Rory McIlroy did his part to return some normalcy and order to the world of golf on Sunday.
He won!
Yes, Rory McIlroy is a winner again, for the 19th time and he did it with some flair and drama on a nail-biter of an afternoon at the Quail Hollow course that he knows so very well.
Rory had been in an 18-month winless slumber but showed off a lot of skill and shot-making and some nice scrambling while his closest competitors were falling apart down the stretch at the Wells Fargo.
“It’s never easy,” Rory said after surviving a wickedly bad tee shot at the final hole of the dreaded Green Mile, a stretch that can bring the best to their proverbial knees. What Rory did was first overtake overnight leader Keith Mitchell then do enough good things to build a two-shot lead with those three tough holes in front of him. A really nice birdie on the par five 15th was what Rory needed to get this done. He hit the front left greenside bunker in two then produced a sensational sand shot that left him an easy two-footer for birdie to get to 11-under par, two clear of Abraham Ancer who was resting comfortably in the clubhouse after a sparking round of 66 and a nine-under total.
McIlroy will look back and know that he took care of business on the two back nine scoring holes — the driveable par four 14th and par-five 15. He birdied both, Mitchell did not. He hit a perfect drive at 16 to set up par there then hit a beauty of a seven-iron into the 17th and nearly made birdie there, giving him that two-shot margin over Ancer and three over Mitchell, who bogeyed 17.
Two shots to spare and he needed them on the monster 18th. He chose three-wood off the tee and hit a huge hook, reminiscent of the big hook on the 10th at 2011 Masters. Rory’s golf ball settled deep into a gnarly lie in the hazard and after going through all his options with caddie Harry Diamond, decided it was in his best interest to take an unplayable lie. After two drops went back toward the hazard, he got to place his ball and he’d launch a nice eight-iron that settled just short of pin-high, 43 feet from the hole.
A great approach left him a bogey putt he could handle. In it went and Rory stood there with a sheepish smile and revved up a controlled series of mini-fist pumps. Shortly after, he’d fire the ball into the crowd, just like he did back in 2010 and 2015.
“One year, six months — sounds like a long time,” Rory began. “The world’s a different place,” he emphasized and it certainly is. Marriage, fatherhood and a world-wide pandemic later, Rory winning with an adoring crowd chanting his name made everyone feel like things are returning to normal, as normal as they can at this stage.
“This is one of my favorite places in the world — to break the drought here, it’s just awesome,” said Rory who closed with a second straight weekend 68 that went on the heels of his Thursday 72 and that Friday 66 for a 10-under par winning total. Double digits under par at Quail Hollow is he-man work.
The crowds sounded like they did before the pandemic. Rory had a huge gallery and it was there to see him win. They screamed for every great shot and he hit a bunch of them, avoiding bogeys all the way until that final hole when he could afford one. “It’s awesome to play in front of people again,” Rory said. “The crowd here has been awesome all week and they carried me through today.”
Rory was one of the players who admitted he missed the crowds, missed the electricity. “At first I thought I’d enjoy the peace and quiet, but that wasn’t the case,” explained McIlroy, who felt the silence had a negative effect on his performances.
He also found the gumption to seek out a second opinion to help cure what ailed his swing and Pete Cowen provided that counsel. Most of all this week, it was Rory’s putter that paved the road to victory. He was nothing short of solid with it and it helped him rank high in the scrambling stats — something that is needed on a course the caliber of Quail Hollow.
In the end, it was Quail Hollow taking her favorite son and wrapping her scoring-friendly arms around him as Rory managed something he’s never done in his storied career — he won the same event for a third time.
Nineteen wins, four majors, a wife and daughter — it is a new world for Rory McIlroy.
In two weeks, he’ll return to another venue where he won a major championship by eight shots back in 2012. Yes, that was the PGA Championship on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.
Kiawah and the PGA await once again.
It’s a different world and a different Rory McIlroy but the same Ocean course that he made his own nine years ago.
One Final Rory Note: This win by Rory almost didn’t happen but it did thanks to an afternoon tee time on Thursday. You may have noticed the KT (kinesthetic) taping on the back of Rory’s neck. It was there for a reason. Wednesday evening on the range after hitting a three-iron, he turned to speak to caddie Harry Diamond and as Rory described: “The left side of my neck just completely locked up and I couldn’t move it. It was really, really strange. He iced it Wednesday night and his 12:54 first round tee time allowed him time for treatment and it loosened up. “It was still bothering me on Thursday afternoon,” he said, “but it sort of loosened up as the week went on.”
9 Comments
baxter cepeda
Well well well…Rory believers were not let down this week; we’re they?
It’s a bit unexpected considering the driving is still shaky and being shockingly revolutionized while the shorter approaches are still mediocre.
Still Pete Cowen adds to his legend.
As mentioned in the article, it was the putter that put Rory over the top this week. Rory is a streaky putter if there ever was one. But his streaks —good or bad— tend to last a while. His putter has been showing signs. It fully showed up this week. The question is can it carry Rory at the pga?
It’s definitely tempting to suddenly start calling Rory the favorite at Kiawah considering his PgA win there and this 3rd W at Quail Hollow.
But buyer beware; this week definitely was a case of ‘horses for courses’. That being said; he has proven to be a good horse at The Ocean Course.
But the real story with Rory is abandoning his iconic draw with the driver; which earned him playing from 33% of the fairways this week. As mentioned in the telecast, various times he should have clearly been further to the right side of the tee box. Cant blame him, he is basically a novice playing fades off the tee.
Rory blames today’s technology for ditching his draw — an alarming comment on its own in the distance debate — but this may be a case of something Mr Cowen cannot replace Mr Bannon.
As Tom knows Kiawah is a tough place for wild drives. When Rory won there his draws were on full throttle. And of course he made some putts.
The putters is ready; but the driving is still a huge question.
Still; Rory did it again. He provided yet another big time win; this time when least expected. This is what the greats do. And there is no doubt Rory —who will be one of the few with 20 pga tour wins the next time he gets one—is a great one indeed.
Tom Edrington
After all the super shots he hit, he also went to the draw for that crucial shot at 17, of course Faldo was calling for a fade…..can’t get that final three-wood out of my mind, that HUGE hook, so reminiscent of the big hook off No. 10 at Augusta National……Rory still has the “Devil Ball” in him, at least for now….but the putter carried him to this one as it often does for so many winners on the PGA Tour….
baxter cepeda
His shot on 17 was perfect for Rory. It’s the driver that doesn’t want to draw for Rory. No surprise he went with draw on 17; it was a safe shot for him with the lead.
18 is 18. Rory doesn’t want to play too safe, but if there ever is a hole to use a 2 stroke advantage by hitting iron off the tee and maybe laying up, the Quail Hollow finisher has to be the one.
He probably could have hit that slice driver somewhere right also. It’s a tough hole no matter how you slice it; no pun intended.
Not sure why it took them so long to consider the drop from the creek but they got around to it.
But Everybody hits wild shots; the important thing for Rory is he got the job done.
On to Cincinnati….Or Dallas.
Tom Edrington
It would be to his ultimate advantage if he could learn Tiger’s go-to “Stinger”…..actually, it’s on to Kiawah for the PGA
baxter cepeda
Before we move on why no mention of the walker cup?
It was probably the best event of the week. Imo.
And have to ask do we actually need Jack to once again propose including all of Europe to the gb&i team?;
GB&I only have about 70 million people to pick from to go up against the mighty Americans. Europe has double the population of the US but the Ryder Cup is beautifully competitive.
The walker cup is a great event as is, but no doubt would also be a better, more competitive event with all of Europe involved.
Tom Edrington
If we start with amateur golf, we have to do all the big amateur stuff; maybe a few will make it to the next level but right now, our top amateurs who have turned pro are really struggling…..
baxter cepeda
Amateur events are raising in status with the long overdue coverage we have now.
There will be many good players from both these Walker Cup teams whom will have very solid pro careers, at least according to the analysts, especially Zinger; and the ol eye test here.
Fitzpatricks brother looks very promising. And fiery. gb&i had no ‘push overs’ according to Azinger.
The American team is absolutely stacked; including the 30 year with the head of a 59 year old still playing elite amateur golf in Hagestad. They asked him what keeps him motivated, which puts to question ‘there are no dumb questions’ but. The career amateur prepares for these moments. The pros present themselves as not caring about money; this guy lives it. He is no Bobby Jones but he certainly reminds us of the greatest amateur. If he turned pro he could be a Matt Kuchar type imo. Cash money.
And then there was the story of everyone getting super sick with a still unexplained ailment. Food? Virus? Guys in the prime of their lives were returning with the ‘I just got an iv’ cotton swab on their arms.
Then there was Seminole, truly one of the best tracks, playing perfectly on the edge both days.
It’s not ‘what is holly Saunders up to now?’ newsworthy, but these big time amateur events deserve some love on DLN. Imo.
Tom Edrington
Our order of importance (we used to put this list together in the “old newspaper” days to determine placement in the sports section……My order of importance is pretty much: PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, European Tour, Korn Ferry then the MAJORS trump all of them along with news on particular players; If we start doing amateurs, then you gotta go NCAA, and so on and so forth…..probably put some US Am stuff in there because way back when it used to count as a major….
baxter cepeda
I’m aware how old newspapers work; which are actually limited by paper and printer.
You got no problem putting an ncaa regional in the dog house; to be fair that should mean at least the ncaa individual and team championships deserve some love.
If I remember right you have put some top usga amateur stories.
Not everything but the ncaa finals, usga amateurs, junior pga, British Ams, maybe ANA junior inspiration (since the winner plays the main event) and the Walker Cup and Junior Ryder Cup . Those are all bigger than Korn Ferry …that’s for sure.