McIlroy second to do PGA Tour-European Tour double
Another year without a major was no less special for Rory McIlroy, who finished Sunday as Europe’s top-ranked golfer for the fourth time and became only the second player to capture season titles on the PGA Tour and European tour.
Jon Rahm felt the same way.
Rahm opened with three straight birdies on his way to a 5-under 67 to win the DP World Tour Championship in DubaI, United Arab Emirates, for the third time, by two shots over England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Sweden’s
Alex Noren.
“Hopefully, people can stop telling me that it was a bad year,” Rahm said. “Three wins worldwide, three wins in three different continents. Yeah, it wasn’t a major championship, but it’s still a really, really good season.”
Rahm also won the Mexican Open on the PGA Tour and the Spanish
Open to go along with the European tour’s season finale that came with a $3 million prize.
He finished on 20-under 268 at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
McIlroy now has gone eight years since his last major — he finished in the top 8 in all four majors this year — but won the FedEx Cup and its $18 million bonus, along with the Canadian Open and the CJ Cup in South Carolina.
Along the way, he returned to No. 1 in the world.
“I think my goal has been to just become a more complete golfer and I feel like I’m on the journey to doing that,” McIlroy said. “I’m as complete a golfer as I feel like I’ve ever been, and hopefully I can continue on that path.”
McIlroy’s main challenge in the DP World rankings came from Matt Fitzpatrick, whose bid for the Harry Vardon Trophy blew up around the turn.
The U.S. Open champion needed to win and McIlroy to not finish runner-up, or to finish second and the Northern Irishman to be outside the top seven. Neither of those scenarios transpired as Fitzpatrick, three off the lead, took double bogey on No. 8 and then dropped another shot at the 10th to end his chances.
LPGA TOUR
Lydia Ko never won more in one day than in the CME Group Tour
Championship, where she claimed the richest prize in women’s golf at $2 million with a victory that allowed her to win LPGA Player of the Year.
Ko outlasted Leona Maguire of Ireland in the final round, seizing control with a 7-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole and closing with 2-under 70 for a two-shot victory.
Unflappable in a strong but occasional wind, Ko wiped away tears when
she tapped in for par on the final at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples.
“There was a lot of things on the line today,” Ko said. “I really wanted to play the best golf I can. I knew it would be a tough battle, especially with how tough the conditions were.”
The $2 million prize took her season earnings to just over $4.3 million, leaving her $591 short of the Lorena Ochoa’s record for single-season earnings set in 2007. Ko clinched the points-based award for LPGA player of the year for the second time, and she won the Vare Trophy for the second straight year for having the lowest scoring average.
Player of the year and the Vare Trophy are each worth one point, along with the victory, giving her 25 points toward the 27 points needed for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Ko finished at 17-under 271 and won the LPGA Tour finale for the second time. Her first title in the CME Group Tour Championship was in 2014 when she was 17 and already becoming a dominant figure in women’s golf.
PGA TOUR
Adam Svensson handled the cold air and the heat of contention as if he had been there before, closing with a 6-under 64 to win the RSM Classic at Sea Island in St. Simons Island, Georgia, for his first PGA Tour victory.
Svensson, a 28-year-old Canadian and former Barry University player, was locked in a four-way tie for the lead on the closing stretch of the Seaside course when he poured in an 18-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole, and then hit a tee shot to 10 feet on the par-3 17th for a birdie that gave him a cushion.
Brian Harman (65) and
Sahith Theegala (66) were in the group ahead of him and missed birdie chances from about 25 feet on the closing hole.
Callum Tarren of England (64) was the first to post at 17-under par and was hopeful of a playoff. Svensson capped off his bogey-free final round with a par for a two-shot win.
He finished at 19-under 263 and played the tougher Seaside course in 20-under the final three rounds. His tournament began with a 73 on the Plantation, which put him in a tie for 108th. His first job was to make the cut. He wound up winning the trophy.
Svensson is starting his third full year on the PGA Tour and gets a two-year exemption, along with a trip to the Masters and the PGA Championship. He has never played a major.
“To be honest, it’s not even real right now,” Svensson said when he finished. “I’m so happy. I put so much work in. To win on the PGA Tour means everything to be me . ... I just kept believing in myself, and here I am.”