RORY ROARS TO TITLE
8-under-64 propels McIlroy to 1st API win, jump-starts career
Tiger Woods’ Arnold Palmeresque charge fizzled early Sunday at Bay Hill, but some 72nd-hole magic was still to come.
Rory McIlroy showed he has his own flair for the dramatic.
In Tiger-like fashion, McIlroy drained a 25-foot birdie Sunday on the final hole of the Arnold Palmer Invitational to leave no doubt of victory against a bigname field. It ended an 18-month winless stretch on the PGA Tour.
McIlroy’s bogey-free, 8-under 64 Sunday earned him a threeshot win against 24-year-old Bryson DeChambeau, who trailed by just a shot with two holes remaining when McIlroy made the clinching putt.
“I knew that my job wasn’t done,” McIlroy said. “I needed to hit a great second shot in there and I needed to at least two-putt from there. But it was great to see it drop and I said just after that I’ve seen Tiger do it enough times, I know what that putt does.
“It was nice to make my own little bit of history.”
McIlroy now looks to make some more.
Sunday’s showing gave McIlroy a long-awaited jolt of confidence to carry into Augusta National Golf Club in two weeks for the Masters. With a win there, he would become the sixth player to to complete the career Grand Slam, joining Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player and Ben Hogan.
McIlroy, a four-time major champion and former world No. 1, long had been on the fast track to join the game’s greats.
But McIlroy’s career had stalled.
The 28-year-old entered Bay
Hill amid one of the worst stretches of his career. After battling injuries and making an equipment change in 2017, McIlroy had fallen to 13th in the world and gone 26 tournaments without a win.
McIlroy, though, never lost faith in himself.
“I know that me being 100 percent healthy is good enough to not just win on the PGA Tour, but win a lot,” he said following his 14th win on Tour. “I guess that’s what kept me going. I never lost belief.
“I know that I’ve got a gift for this game and I know that if I put the time in I can make a lot of it.”
McIlroy’s victory Sunday was his first on Tour since the 2016 Tour Championship. The win in Atlanta earned McIlroy the FedEx Cup title and a $10 million bonus, but soon became a bittersweet moment for him.
Shortly after his win, McIlroy learned Palmer had passed away earlier in the day.
McIlroy, a native of Northern Ireland, had become close with Palmer in recent years. He played the game the way The King did to win his tournament.
“I wish he would have been at the top of the hill to shake my hand when I came off the 18th green there,” McIlroy said. “But hopefully he’s proud of me with the way I played that back nine and tried to be as aggressive as I could and tried to take on shots when I needed to, just like he would have.”
McIlroy seized control of the tournament Sunday with four straight birdies on the back nine, highlighted by a chip-in on the par-4 15th hole. But DeChambeau did not back down and cut McIlroy’s three-shot lead to one with a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 16th hole.
McIlroy knew he could use one more birdie to tighten his grip on the lead. After the putt found the hole, McIlroy raised his arms before he turned and punched the air with his right fist — just like Woods.
“I can’t remember when I got on a run like that before,” McIlroy said.
Woods himself could have used a fist pump or two Sunday to rally from a five-shot deficit entering Sunday.
Woods actually had begun to make his signature move as his 18-foot eagle putt on the par-5 6th tracked to the hole. The effort followed a monstrous drive over the lake and a 226-yard 6-iron to back of the green.
But Woods’ putt lipped out and he settled for birdie. His chance to win for the ninth time at Bay Hill appeared bleak after he blasted a driver well right off the ninth fairway, leading to a deflating bogey.
With record crowds and adoring fans lining every fairway, Woods would rally with three birdies on the first four holes of his back nine.
Woods’ run ran out of steam when his birdie putt broke at the last second on the 15th hole. He then hit his drive out of bounds on the par-5 16th hole, leading to a bogey.
Despite his limp finish, the 42-year-old back from four back surgeries is trending in the right direction heading toward the Masters, where he is a four-time winner.
“If you would of asked me at the beginning of the year that I would have had a chance to win two golf tournaments,” he said. “I would have taken that in a heartbeat.”
No one, not even Tiger, was catching McIlroy on Sunday.
McIlroy put on a clinic at Bay Hill. He ended the week leading the field in driving distance, proximity to the hole on his approach shots, scrambling and strokes gained putting.
In fast, firm, warm conditions on Sunday, McIlroy matched Henrik Stenson for the low round of the week. Stenson, a longtime Lake Nona resident, rode his red-hot opening round to take 18-, 36- and 54-hole leads, but he stumbled Sunday and managed a 1-under par 71 to finish five shots back and in fourth place.
No matter who is at the top of the leaderboard, McIlroy is going to be hard to beat if he can play like he did Sunday. Everyone knows it, especially McIlroy.
“It’s huge for my confidence going into the next few weeks,” he said. “I kept saying I didn’t need a win going into Augusta to feel like I had a chance. I just wanted to see signs of good golf, and thankfully I’ve been able to get both today.”