McIlroy rallies to win Wells Fargo again
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy has a full head of steam heading into the PGA Championship.
McIlroy won the PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship for a record fourth time Sunday with another dominating performance at Quail Hollow Club, easily overcoming a two-stroke deficit to beat Xander Schauffele by five shots.
No other player has won the event more than twice.
McIlroy closed with a 6-under-par 65, playing the final 11 holes in 6 under even with a double bogey on the 18th hole. He finished at 17-under 267 in the 72-hole event after four straight rounds in the 60s, and he won his second straight PGA Tour start after teaming with Shane Lowry to take the Zurich Classic two weeks earlier in New Orleans.
That should give McIlroy plenty of momentum heading to Kentucky for the PGA Championship at Louisville’s Valhalla Golf Club, the site of his most recent major win 10 years ago. The year’s second major tees off Thursday.
“I really got some confidence,” the 35-year-old from Northern Ireland said. “My golf swing feels a lot more comfortable than it has. So going to a venue next week where I’ve won, it feels like the stars are aligning a little bit.
“But I’ve got a lot of golf to play and a lot of great players to try to beat next week. Going into the next major of the year feeling really good about myself.”
Schauffele closed with a 71.
McIlroy trailed by two after Schauffele made an eagle on the par-5 seventh, but the No. 2 player in the Official World Golf Ranking quickly shifted into another gear. He pulled even after birdies on Nos. 8 and 9, then made a 33-foot eagle putt on the 10th for his first lead of the tournament after Schauffele settled for a birdie.
Schauffele’s bogey at No. 12 gave McIlroy more breathing room. McIlroy then essentially sealed the win on No. 13 when he made a birdie and Schauffele missed another putt for a bogey, resulting in a four-shot advantage.
McIlroy wasn’t done, though. He made another birdie on 14 and then punctuated the victory by chipping in from the sand for another eagle on No. 15 to move to 19 under, completing a remarkable stretch of playing eight holes in 8 under.
“He’s Rory McIlroy, you know?” Schauffele said. “He hits it 350 yards in the air downwind, and he has shorter clubs into firm greens than anyone else. When he’s on, he’s on. Hats off to him for winning. He played unbelievably well.”
The only question left was if McIlroy could match his own course record of 61 and tournament record of 21 under.
He didn’t. But he managed a smile when he blew his second shot on No. 18 over the green and into the water and had to take a drop. He tapped in for a double bogey and a victory as the crowd chanted his name.
“I just went on a run that for whatever reason I’m able to go on at this golf course,” McIlroy said. “Quail Hollow, Charlotte in general has been really good to me over my career, and this is just another great day to sort of add to all the rest of them.”
McIlroy’s finish was reminiscent of 2010, when he carded six straight 3s en route to a closing 62 to beat Phil Mickelson for his first PGA Tour win. He also won the event in 2015 and 2021.
McIlroy has long called Quail Hollow one of his favorite courses because it allows for him to take advantage of his length off the tee. But it was his putting that earned the 26th victory of his PGA Tour career on Sunday. He needed just 25 putts, making five longer than 10 feet.
For Schauffele, who led by four shots after 36 holes, it was a disappointing ending to a strong week. He finished second for the second straight year as his winless drought stretched to 39 tournaments, a streak dating to 2022.
Byeong Hun An was third at 9 under after a 66, and Jason Day (70) and Sungjae Im (73) tied for fourth a 6 under.
Chattanooga resident Stephan Jaeger (75) tied for 21st at par, while fellow Baylor School graduate Harris English (71) shared 34th at 3 over.
McIlroy thanked his mother Rosie, who was in Florida, after the Mother’s Day victory.
“My mom’s amazing,” McIlroy said. “I think most people know my dad, but my mom is like the sort of rock or the jell that holds our family together, she always has been. I said this last night, I’m probably a lot more like my dad than I am my mom, but I wish I was a little more like my mom at times.”
Ticket to the PGA
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Chris Gotterup won the inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic for his first PGA Tour victory, closing with a 4-under 67 for a sixstroke victory at Dunes Golf & Beach Club.
The tournament was played opposite the Wells Fargo Championship, a signature event. Gotterup got a spot in the PGA Championship that starts Thursday, but not in next year’s Masters or a guaranteed spot in the remaining two $20 million signature events this year on the PGA Tour.
Four strokes ahead entering the round, Gotterup bogeyed the first two holes, then rebounded with a birdie-eagle-birdie burst on the next three. The 24-year-old former University of Oklahoma player won in his 27th tour start, finishing at 22-under 262.
“No matter what tournament or what my game feels like, I’m going to grind it out,” Gotterup said. “That’s kind of how I’ve always been.”
Alistair Docherty (64) and Davis Thompson (68) tied for second.
Blades Brown, the second 16-year-old in two weeks to make a cut, tied for 26th at 19 under after a 69. Last week, Kris Kim advanced to the weekend in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Brown, from Nashville, is a high school sophomore. His mother, Rhonda Blades Brown, played two seasons in the WNBA after starring at Vanderbilt.
Barron gets it done
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Doug Barron won the Regions Tradition for his third PGA Tour Champions victory and his first major title, shooting a 4-under 68 to hold off Steven Alker by two strokes.
Barron finished at 17-under 271 at Greystone in the first of the season’s five senior majors. He ended a victory drought dating to the 2021 Shaw Charity Classic. Wins eluded him throughout his PGA Tour career, where he didn’t finish higher than third in 238 events.
There wasn’t a lot of drama in this one as he outlasted some of the tour’s biggest names with a bogey-free round and a casual tap-in finish. World Golf Hall of Famers Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington ended up being the ones offering congratulatory hugs at the end.
Barron called it “a dream come true to beat all these great players.”
Alker had a 63 to match the tournament record for Greystone. Els (71), Stewart Cink (66) and Steve Stricker (69) shared third place at 14 under.
Barron, who played college golf a few hours away at Mississippi State and lives in Tennessee, was coming off a tie for second at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic and oneupped that.
“I have a good life. I don’t judge myself on my golf,” he said. “If I did, I’d have a nervous breakdown, because my career’s been like a roller coaster. I judge myself on just trying to enjoy life, and this is just an honest-to-god bonus.”
Zhang wins a duel
CLIFTON, N.J. — Rose Zhang won the Cognizant Founders Cup to end Nelly Korda’s record-tying LPGA Tour winning streak, rallying to beat Madelene Sagstrom by two strokes.
Zhang birdied four of the final five holes to overcome a three-shot deficit in a thrilling final-round duel with Sagstrom after the two broke away from the field Saturday.
Zhang shot a 6-under 66, making birdies on Nos. 14, 15, 17 and 18 at Upper Montclair Country Club. Sagstrom bogeyed the 16th in a 69.
Korda, who struggled the final two days after playing magnificently in winning the five straight events she entered, had a second straight 73 and tied for seventh at 7 under.
After her final putt, Zhang bent over and put her hands to her mouth, before walking to hug caddie Oliver Brett. The two-time NCAA champion at Stanford who won last year at nearby Liberty National in her pro debut, finished at 24-under 264 — the best score in the three years the event has been held at this course.