Rory McIlroy was basically begging to be beaten on Wednesday at the WGC Match Play.
Thorbjorn Olesen had the defending champion on the ropes most of the match but couldn’t put him away.
After leading most of the way, the match was all even at the par five 16th where McIlroy hit his second shot in the water on the par five. Another case of the lefts. Olesen had a short birdie putt to take a one-up lead but missed.
Olesen had another birdie putt at 17 but once again couldn’t convert.
Things were all square at 18 where Olesen was just over the green while McIlroy was 25 feet away on the fringe.
It was then that Olesen produced his worst shot of the day. He shanked his chip. His next went eight feet past the hole, giving McIlroy the easy two-putt for the win.
“I was happy to get the win,” McIlroy said, looking relieved after a match he well could have lost. “The quality out there wasn’t too good,” he said, referring to both himself and Olesen. “It was hard to produce quality with the winds. I didn’t have my best stuff but I hung in there and hit some good shots when I needed to.”
