Mcilroy makes a major statement
Posts an eight-stroke win over a star-filled field to take PGA Championship
Right down to his red shirt, Rory McIlroy looked every bit the part of golf ’s next star in another command performance at the PGA Championship.
McIlroy validated his record-setting U.S. Open win last year by blowing away the field Sunday at Kiawah Island. One last birdie from 25 feet on the 18th hole gave him a 6-under 66 for an eight-shot victory, breaking the PGA Championship record for margin of victory that Jack Nicklaus set in 1980.
The 23-year-old from Northern Ireland returned to No. 1 in the world, and he became the youngest player since Seve Ballesteros to win two majors. Tiger Woods was about four months older than McIlroy when he won his second major.
Just like the U.S. Open, this one was never seriously in doubt.
McIlroy seized control with backto-back birdies Sunday morning to complete the storm-delayed third round with a 67 and build a threeshot lead. No one got closer than two shots the rest of the way, and McIlroy closed out a remarkable week by playing bogey-free over the final 23 holes of a demanding Ocean Course.
David Lynn, a 38-year-old from England who was playing in America for the first time, won the B-flight. He closed with a 68 and was the runnerup.
Woods, who shared the 36-hole lead for the second time this year in a major, was never a serious factor. He tossed away his chances Saturday before the storm blew in and never could get closer than four shots. He closed with a 72.
If there was a signature shot for McIlroy at Kiawah Island, it might have been on Saturday when his tee shot lodged into a tree on the third hole. He only found it with help from the TV crew, took his penalty shot and fired a wedge into 6 feet to save par. He was on his way, and he never let up.
McIlroy also won the U.S. Open by eight shots, the kind of dominance that Woods — the most famous wearer of red on Sundays — has displayed over so many years.
By winning the PGA Championship, he is halfway home to the career Grand Slam.
“It was a great round of golf. I’m speechless,” said McIlroy after hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy, the heaviest of the four majors.
Winning the final major the year ends what had been a tumultuous season for McIlroy. Despite winning the Honda Classic in early March, he went into a tail spin by missing four cuts over five tournaments, as questions swirled that his romance with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki was hurting his game.
Instead, McIlroy put a big hurt on the strongest field of the year, finishing at13-under 275.
Ian Poulter put up the stiffest challenge, though not for long. Poulter, who started the final round six shots behind, made six birdies through seven holes to get within two shots. He made three straight bogeys on the back nine and had to settle for a 69. He tied for third at 4-under 284, along with Justin Rose (66) and defending champion Keegan Bradley (68).
In the final qualifying event for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, nothing changed.
Phil Mickelson was holding down the eighth and final spot, and he stayed there when neither Bo Van Pelt nor Steve Stricker could make a move on the back nine. Davis Love III will announce four captains’ picks in three weeks.
McIlroy was tied for the lead with Vijay Singh when he returned on Sunday. Twenty-seven holes later, he had no peer in the final major of the year.
When he won the U.S. Open last year, Padraig Harrington suggested that perhaps McIlroy — not Woods — might be the one to challenge the record 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus. That looked like nothing more than one Irishman boosting another when McIlroy didn’t come close in the next five majors.
“I think winning his second major is going to make things a lot easier for him,” Harrington said. “I think last year he proved it, but there’s been ups and downs since his last major win because of the pressure and the expectations and the hype. Now he’s delivered again. It’s going to be a lot easier for him going forward. And he’ll get better.”
McIlroy might have won this major before breakfast.
He was among 26 players who had to return Sunday morning, playing the back nine to finish the stormdelayed third round. Tied with Vijay Singh at 6-under par, McIlroy missed two short birdie chances, and then made bogey on the 13th. He rebounded with birdies on the 15th and 16th, a tough bunker save on the 17th and a closing par for a 67 that gave him a three-shot lead.
Not once during the final round did the kid look like he was going to lose this one.
After going back to his island home for breakfast, a quick nap and a change of clothes — a bright red shirt, no less — McIlroy looked solid as ever. After pulling his approach on the par-5 second hole under a tree, he hit wedge off the wood chips to 6 feet for birdie. He came up just short of the green at No. 3, where the tees were moved up to play 293 yards, and hit an even better flip wedge to a tiny target on an elevated green. McIlroy holed a 15-foot birdie putt, and he was on his way.