Rory McIlroy admitted to violating a gentlemen’s tenet of golf.

As Wyndham Clark was on the 18th hole closing out his improbable US Open victory at the Los Angeles Country Club on Sunday, McIlroy was secretly wishing his opponent would choke.

“You don’t want to wish bad on anyone, but you’re really hoping for a three-putt,” McIlroy revealed, according to Golf Digest. “You’re hoping to somehow get into a playoff to keep giving yourself a chance.”

It’s human nature, and nearly any golfer in McIlroy’s shoes would secretly feel the same way, but it’s not an inner feeling that a lot of his competitors would necessarily cop to.

“You’re rooting for one guy, and that guy is yourself at that point,” McIlroy continued. “Yeah, I guess you’re just hoping for the other guy to slip up or make a mistake or give you a glimmer of hope.”

Clark finished at 10-under par, one stroke ahead of McIlroy, to win his first career major.

McIlroy, who hasn’t won a major since 2014, was in the clubhouse, having completed the 18th hole just before Clark approached the green.

Clark’s triumph came about 10 years after losing his mother, Lisa, to breast cancer at the age of 55.

“I know my mom is proud of me,’’ Clark said on Sunday.

“I just wish she could be here and we could enjoy this. All I really wish is that my mom could be here and I could just hug her and we could celebrate together. But I know she’s proud of me. My mom was so positive and such a motivator in what she did. She called me ‘Winner’ when I was little. She had that mantra of ‘play big.’”

Rickie Fowler, who was paired with Clark on Sunday, offered his heartfelt congratulations.

“I told him obviously congrats and proud of him,” Fowler said, according to USA Today. “Then yeah, the last — I went back in there and just said, your mom was with you. She’d be very proud.”