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.
Leading final scores
273 (15 under)
Rory McIlroy (N Ire) 72 73 66 62
(€890,000)
277 (11 under)
Phil Mickelson (US) 70 68 71 68
278 (10 under)
Angel Cabrera (Arg) 70 67 73 68
279 (9 under)
Brendon de Jonge (Zim) 70 73 70 66