McIlroy leads charge as top players find their spark

RORY McIlroy’s Sunday special at Bay Hill has only added to Masters mania with the upper echelon of world golf finding red-hot form for the first major of the year in two weeks’ time.

Among winners in the past month on the US PGA Tour are Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson, who have five green jackets between them, plus world number two Justin Thomas.

The Tiger Woods comeback tale also moved a step closer to miraculous at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida with his second consecutive top five finish, in his first back-to-back tournaments since 2013.

Woods briefly flirted with the lead during his own Sunday push at a course he’s won on eight times. But he was always too many holes ahead, and after a tee shot on the 16th sailed out of bounds, the former world number one finally finished eight shots behind McIlroy.

The Northern Irishman put on a putting masterclass in his final round 64 and shot past Woods in to Masters favouritism declaring everything was “coming together” just in time.

“I just kept saying the last few weeks I wasn’t that far away. It just takes something just to click into place and something clicked into place,” McIlory said, having smashed a 340m drive on the par four 16th which led to one of his five back-nine birdies.

“It’s huge for my confidence ... I just wanted to see signs of good golf.”