Oh Canada – Oh Rory: McIlroy Shoots 62, Outduels J.T. And Finau

Canadian excitement on a sunny St. George’s Sunday was off-the-charts and so was the play of 2022 Canadian Open champion Rory McIlroy.

Crowds were enormous, the roars were constant and the final round was nothing short of spectacular as McIlroy put together a marvelous 62 for a 19-under par effort that was two better than Tony Finau and four better than PGA champion Justin Thomas.  The three played together and both Finau and Thomas did their best to press McIlroy and both closed with 64s.

McIlroy blew open a tight contest with back-to-back birdies to close what had been a tense birdie battle between  the three stars.

“This is a day I’ll remember for a long, long time. Twenty-first PGA Tour win, one more than someone else. That gave me a little bit of extra incentive today, and happy to get it done,” McIlroy said afterward, getting in a dig at LIV commissioner Greg Norman, who had 20 PGA Tour wins.

“It’s incredible — and to play with Tony and J.T.,” McIlroy added.

In a moment of reflection, McIlroy talked about rebuilding his game.  “After COVID — I had a reset,” he said, talking about evaluating where his game was at the time.

“I know what makes me happy and this makes me happy,” McIlroy said of the victory.

McIlroy has become the face of the PGA Tour in many circles and over the last 18 holes, the crowds were obviously pulling enthusiastically for McIlroy with chants of “Rory-Rory-Rory” and McIlroy didn’t disappoint.  And this title defense became a first for McIlroy.  He’s had 14 previous title defenses and this was his first successful one.

Later in the afternoon, McIlroy made sure everyone knew who he was talking about when he said “someone else.”

As he sat in front of the gathered media, Rory explained:

“And one more than Norman.  I think going up against the best and beating the best makes it extra special.  And then I alluded to it.  I had a lot of extra motivation of what’s going on across the pond.  The guy that’s spearheading that tour has 20 wins on the PGA Tour and I was tied with him and I wanted to get one ahead of him.  And I did.  So that was really cool for me, just a little sense of pride on that one.”

McIlroy’s game has been trending up for weeks.  On Sunday, he showed an array of precise wedge shots into the greens that had been softened by overnight rains.  McIlroy showed he’s now able to take spin off his wedges and short irons to keep shots from spinning too much.  And his putting has been spot-on as well, giving him a lot of optimism and confidence heading into the U.S. Open.

And speaking of confidence, Justin Rose flirted with history over his final 18 holes.  Playing well ahead of the leaders, he made a big run up the scoreboard.  Rose was five-under par heading into the par five ninth, looking to go six-under over the first nine holes but suffered a bogey at the reachable par five, seemingly ending his momentum.  But that didn’t stop him.

Rose started an incredible back-nine run that saw him birdie the 10th, eagle 11, birdie 12, birdie 14 then at the par five 15th, he made the third eagle of his round to get to 11-under par with three holes to play and looking to tie Jim Furyk’s all-time low score of 58.

Surprisingly, Rose couldn’t get up-and-down from a greenside bunker at the par three 16th.  He parred 17th then after a drive at 18 that found the light rough, had just a pitching wedge into the par four.  Fifty-eight was still in the equation.  Fifty-nine looked a sure thing.  But his shot jumped and he flew the green and he finished his day with a disappointing bogey.  Bogeys on two of the three finishing holes, three bogeys for the day and he still shot 60 and his 14-under total got him a tie for fourth.

Rose looked back and knew where he stood and what could have been.

“I started to get some butterflies because I felt like I was right in the golf tournament,” he said. “And then the moment I sort of eagled 15, I knew the gravity of the situation, especially playing trying to break 60.”

As for the second into 18 — “That’s not knowing the golf course just well enough,” he said. “If I think, if I look back at 18, I thought the whole slope short of green was more severe than it actually was. Hindsight, I hit 9-iron more to the left-hand side. The front left wasn’t as severe as I thought it was, it was more of a run up.

“I’m totally disappointed, yeah,” he said. “Because you know what’s at stake, for sure. You’re really just playing the last hole — I never shot 59 before — so it would have been a lovely footnote on the week. I don’t know how much was in my control or not, but I could have made — we were right in between two clubs and a decision and I went the wrong way on a decision and paid the price for it. So those are the things that do happen and it’s amazing how those situations present themselves right at the end.

“It was tricky, but all in all there’s tons to take out of this week.”

So will McIlroy, Thomas and Finau.

It’s off to the U.S. Open and the season’s third major.

Canadian Open Scoreboard: