Rory wants win in Scotland to salvage season
GOLF LATEST FROM PGA & EURO TOURS McIlroy is aiming to go all out to finally lay his bogey
RORY McILROY will tee up at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the home of golf next month looking for a first victory in 2017 in his last event of the year.
The omens for St Andrews are not good, given the Northern Irishman’s never won a tournament in Scotland.
A final-hole birdie at the BMW Championship in Chicago yesterday was of little comfort to the four-time Major winner who shot a 71 to finish on two-under 282.
It meant he ended his poorest PGA Tour season by failing to qualify to defend the Tour Championship that starts on Thursday in Atlanta.
McIlroy went to Chicago needing to break into the top 30 on the FedEx Cup standings to be assured of a place at the East Lake Golf Club.
But after shaking hands with playing partner and fellow Open Champion Zach Johnson, McIlroy was projected after his final round to end an injured-plagued season on 59th.
It is his worst performance on the Tour since moving full-time to the States in 2010.
McIlroy never got out of first gear at Conway Farms in posting earlier scores of 72, 69 and 70 ahead of a final day’s effort that included two outward birdies but also three inward bogeys ahead of his 72nd hole three-footer for a level par 71 and a share of 59th place on two under.
McIlroy now has just one event remaining and that’s the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, starting on October 5.
He will contest the pro-am event in the company of his father Gerry but it takes on more priority given McIlroy is still without a win in 2017.
Four years ago, McIlroy headed to Sydney without a win only to be gifted the Australian Open when Adam Scott bogeyed the final hole.
McIlroy has won at least one event each year since 2008 and his first full season in the pro ranks but after dismal showings in the two earlier Play-Off events, he could not wait to shut down his poorest-ever PGA season.
He had indicated that unless he won one of the Play-Off events he would kick-start his 2017-18 PGA Tour season for the first time in California instead of the Middle East.
That would now seem to be the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, that starts on January 25. That will disappoint the European Tour given he has always started in the UAE.
Unlike McIlroy, fellow US Open winner Brooks Koepka produced a sizzling 63 to grab the early clubhouse lead in Chicago. ROMAIN WATTEL finally tasted victory on the European Tour – at the 187th time of asking – as the battling Frenchman lifted the Dutch Open. Wattel, left, had not recorded a top-20 finish all season prior to ending his title drought at The Dutch. He was level with Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat for much of the back nine but saw his challenger find water twice in for double bogeys in the last four holes. And a par at the last was enough for Wattel to secure victory with a 15-under total following a closing 69. One shot behind was Canadian Austin Connelly after a 66 with former world No.1 Lee Westwood carding 69 for part of a six-way tie for third at 13 under. Wattel said: “I’ve been putting really bad the last two years. I never thought about the score, I just tried to play my best. I just tried to play my own game.”