GOLF:ON THE eve of his 21st birthday and ahead of this week's Players Championship, Rory McIlroy produced an imperious final round 62 to claim his first win on the PGA Tour at the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina.
It was a truly masterful performance from start to finish as the swagger, in its full glory, returned to McIlroy’s game as he left everyone in his wake.
Glimpses of McIlroy’s return to form were on display during Saturday’s 66 after he put a “trusty old putter” back in the bag to deal with fast greens at Quail Hollow.
But yesterday’s spellbinding final round 62 upped the ante to a completely new level as he closed out his first win in America with a 15 under par 273 winning aggregate. He also lowered the course record by two shots.
“I just got into the zone, didn’t realise I was going 8, 9, 10 under just got my nose in front and wanted to stay there,” said McIlroy, who picked up the €890,000 winner’s cheque. He becomes the youngest winner on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods’ Disney win in 1996.
“It’s been a crazy ride to this point and to get my first win in the US is very special and to do it on a course like this is even better.
“I’m going to have a bit of a party on Tuesday night at Sawgrass (for his 21st). The first call is to my mum and dad up in Lough Erne and then my girlfriend Holly.
“I feel great heading to Sawgrass after coming off a 16 under par weekend, it’s ridiculous (scoring).” A return to the world top 10 is assured and McIlroy has practically cemented his place on Colin Montgomerie’s Ryder Cup team for Celtic Manor in October.
The opening birdie of his flawless round came at the fourth before he stormed into contention with three birdies on the spin from the seventh to turn in four-under.
By now the 20-year-old had joined Angel Cabrera for a share of the lead but the inward half was always going to be a test of his mettle. But as Phil Mickelson struggled to find his A-game and Cabrera was prone to mistakes, McIlroy was easily the most assured. Although a birdie opportunity was missed at the par five 10th, his fifth birdie of the day quickly came at the 11th.
By the time McIlroy holed a 10-footer for his sixth birdie at the 14, he had assumed the outright lead on 11-under heading into the difficult closing stretch known as the Green Mile.
Right on cue he reduced the par five to a drive (352 yards) and five iron (from 207 yards) into three feet for the simplest of eagles.
The encore at 16 was arguably shot of the day as he fired a seven iron 167 yards from the fairway bunker into four feet to set up the seventh birdie of the day.
The perfect icing on the cake came when he found the 18th green in regulation before thrilling the crowds by draining a monster 40-foot putt along the green for a closing birdie.
McIlroy’s win, to add to his only other professional victory at
the Dubai Desert Classic, was all the more remarkable considering he only made it into the weekend on the cut mark of one over. Not even Woods could hang around for the weekend.
Earlier Pádraig Harrington made all the running and threatened to post a good clubhouse target. He kicked into gear with a birdie, eagle combination from the sixth before his charge then got serious after reeling off three birdies on the spin from the 13th to move into an early share of the lead. However, two bogeys at 16 and 17 put paid to any chance of winning and the three time major winner parred the last for a closing 68 to finish on six under.
Mickelson shot 68 to finish second on 11 under and Cabrera took third on 10-under after his 68.
Collated final round scores and totals in the PGA Tour Quail Hollow Championship, Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America
(USA unless stated, par 72):
273 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 72 73 66 62
277Phil Mickelson 70 68 71 68
278Angel Cabrera (Arg) 70 67 73 68
279Brendon De Jonge 70 73 70 66
280Bo Van Pelt 65 76 71 68
281Rickie Fowler 73 70 71 67
282J J Henry 68 71 71 72, Anthony Kim 72 69 70 71, Scott McCarron 70 75 67 70, Jim Furyk 75 65 71 71, Matthew Jones (Aus) 74 71 69 68, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 72 72 70 68, Mark Wilson 73 72 70 67
283Kevin Na 72 69 73 69, Billy Mayfair 68 68 71 76
284Steve Marino 73 72 67 72
285Hunter Mahan 71 71 73 70, Aron Price (Aus) 75 69 73 68, Robert Allenby (Aus) 71 70 72 72, Davis Love III 70 71 68 76, Tom Gillis 71 69 74 71
286Nick Watney 70 71 72 73, Ricky Barnes 69 72 74 71, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 74 68 71 73, Lucas Glover 71 71 74 70, Bubba Watson 70 73 69 74, Carlos Franco (Par) 72 71 71 72, Jason Day (Aus) 73 71 69 73
287Chris Stroud 73 71 71 72, Joe Ogilvie 73 69 74 71, Heath Slocum 69 74 70 74, Blake Adams 73 71 72 71, Dustin Johnson 73 65 72 77, Chad Campbell 72 70 74 71, Chad Collins 74 70 70 73, Bill Haas 71 70 70 76, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 74 71 73 69
288Paul Goydos 68 70 73 77, Tim Petrovic 74 71 73 70, J.P. Hayes 74 64 76 74, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 68 72 73 75, Lee Westwood (Eng) 73 72 71 72
289Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 71 72 75 71, Ross Fisher (Eng) 72 73 69 75, Brett Quigley 73 72 73 71, Andres Romero (Arg) 68 76 74 71, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 72 73 72 72
290Will MacKenzie 71 74 70 75, Brad Faxon 68 75 73 74, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 70 71 74 75
291 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 73 72 73 73, Charley Hoffman 72 72 69 78, Chris Tidland 72 71 73 75, Zach Johnson 71 73 73 74, Bill Lunde 73 72 73 73, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 74 71 78 68
292Brian Stuard 69 76 71 76, Kenny Perry 66 79 75 72, Mark Calcavecchia 71 74 73 74, John Merrick 72 70 76 74, Brian Gay 73 71 76 72, Camilo Villegas (Col) 67 72 73 80
293D.A. Points 72 73 77 71, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 75 73 75, Kevin Sutherland 72 68 73 80, Johnson Wagner 73 70 74 76, Steve Wheatcroft 75 70 78 70, Charles Howell III 74 71 75 73
294Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 69 71 74 80, Greg Owen (Eng) 74 71 71 78, Michael Connell 76 69 76 73, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 75 70 71 78, D.J. Trahan 73 72 72 77
296Roger Tambellini 74 71 76 75
297Rocco Mediate 70 75 75 77
298Tim Herron 71 74 75 78, Brandt Snedeker 70 75 76 77
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