Party pooper? Spoilsport? Not a bit of it, at least not in his own eyes, those eyes of Rasmus Højgaard who refused to be sucked out of his own zone as he constructed a final round 65 – closed out with a hat-trick of birdies – for a 72-holes total of nine-under-par 275 that enabled him to stealthily steal the Amgen Irish Open title from the grasp of Rory McIlroy, thwarted again in a season of close calls and heartache.
Højgaard’s round featured eight birdies, two of them chip-ins. Firstly from rough on the par 3 10th hole where a birdie was far from his mind as he stood over the treacherous chip only intent on saving par. Then from a greenside bunker on the 17th, where the deed was met with incredulity from those packed on the sand hills awaiting the perceived coronation of McIlroy two groups behind in the final pairing.
But fate, and the golfing gods, decreed that Højgaard, not McIlroy, reigned supreme on a links where another Dane, Søren Kjeldsen, had won in 2015.
Of that audacious chip-in from the sand hill on 10, Højgaard remarked: “I thought if I could get it within five feet I would be happy with that, and try to get away with three. But there was a flag in the way and the ball went in the hole. It was one of those lucky bounces I got there today.”
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McIlroy had entered the final round with the solo lead and, step by step, strengthened it. A birdie on the first, another on the second. By the time he walked off the fourth green McIlroy had a four shot cushion over his pursuers. One hand, it seemed, on the trophy?
Only Royal County Down is a links where nothing can be taken for granted, where any mistake can be punished, as McIlroy – to his cost – would discover after his tee shot to the par 3 seventh missed the green left and he failed to get up and down to save par. A birdie putt from nine feet on the eighth hole missed. A birdie putt on the ninth green horse-shoed out. Little chips in the armour, perhaps. But no panic. Not yet.
When McIlroy rolled in a 20-footer for birdie on the 11th it gave him a two-stroke lead over Matteo Manassero, Daniel Brown and Højgaard. Manassero he could keep an eye on. The others, though, were ahead. But the roars that came back to him from Højgaard’s hole-out from the bunker on the 17th were unmistakable in their warning.
Højgaard finished birdie-birdie-birdie to take the clubhouse lead. Still, McIlroy had destiny in his own hands. Until he didn’t. His approach to the 15th hit the green but scurried down and off into a swale from which he failed to get up and down. A bogey.
Then on the 17th McIlroy three-putted from 25 feet. The flag was in a treacherous position at the back and he misjudged the pace of the putt as it ran three feet by. He missed the short putt back.
“I felt like I was in control of the tournament for most of the day. Felt like I was playing really solid, doing what I needed to do, making a lot of pars, making the odd birdie. Then obviously the two bogeys on 15 and 17 opened the door for someone to have a good finish like what Rasmus did there on the last few holes. Unfortunately I played well this week, missing the green right on 15 was the place that you can’t go. And just misjudged the speed with the first putt on 17,” said McIlroy.
The mood change of the crowd told its own story. McIlroy felt it.
“I knew what I needed to do on the 18th tee. Driver probably wasn’t the shot that was in play because it brought those three bunkers into play, but I needed to try to make eagle. I had to try to thread it through those bunkers, which I did, and then the 7-iron (approach from 191 yards to 10 feet), probably two of the best shots I’ve hit all week,” he said.
McIlroy knew the stakes when standing over the putt. Silence all around him. “I thought I hit the putt with good enough speed for it to sort of come down the hill a little more. It just hung up there. Maybe the wind had a little to do with that coming out of the left,” said McIlroy of the missed eagle putt followed by the tap-in birdie that gave him a round of 68 and solo second, a shot ahead of Manassero. But one behind Højgaard.
“I’m gutted for him, trying to win at home . . . I know how much it would have meant for him to win this event,” said Højgaard of spoiling McIlroy’s party. “But at the same time I’m very happy for myself to come through with this win now.”
Højgaard’s victory also all but guarantees that he will earn one of the 10 PGA Tour cards available off the DP World Tour this season. “It was a top goal this year. It’s going to be cool I can go over and play in America with my brother Nicolai now. It makes our lives a bit easier. It was a tough one last year but definitely motivated me.”
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