McIlroy putting finish touches on big year

SHANGHAI – Given another shot at winning the HSBC Champions, Rory McIlroy delivered his best of the day.

Even though he never trailed over the last 14 holes Sunday and he didn’t make a bogey all weekend, McIlroy felt fortunate to be standing on the tee at the par-5 18th in a playoff with defending champion Xander Schauffele.

On the final hole in regulation, McIlroy thought his drive was in the water, relieved to find it was a foot from the red hazard line.

After five hours of an exquisite battle among McIlroy, Schauffele and Louis Oosthuizen, the pivotal moment was when Schauffele reached into a hat on the 18th tee for a white slip of paper with “2” written on it. That meant McIlroy would go first in the playoff.

And there was no doubt about his next two shots.

He followed a soaring drive down the middle of the fairway with a 4-iron from 223 yards into the wind to 25 feet that set up a two-putt birdie for the victory.

“If anything over the last few years … for the most part, I’ve been able to get the best out of myself when I’ve needed it, and that’s been a learning curve for me,” McIlroy said. “But I’ve had enough experiences, and I’ve got a lot of great memories to draw back on. There’s so many shots that I’ve hit under pressure that I can draw on.”

He added another one at Sheshan International.

And he needed every one of them to hold off a bold performance by Schauffele, who spent four days trying to recover from the flu and nearly left Shanghai as the only player to win back-to-back in the HSBC Champions.

“I tried my best. Played great,” Schauffele said. “I beat him on the day just to get in a playoff, and unfortunately I couldn’t pull it off. I would have much rather played a par 3 for a playoff. He’s the best driver in our game. Couldn’t be happier for him. Like I said,

I played great all week, fought. It was nice to have a chance.”

McIlroy did everything right, closing with a 4-under 68 and going bogey-free over the last 39 holes he played.

Schauffele made him do a little more with birdies on two of the last four holes for a 66 to force a playoff at 19-under.

McIlroy won for the fourth time this year. It was his third World Golf Championships title and his first since the Match Play at Harding Park in 2015.

❚ Bermuda Championship: Brendon Todd ran away Sunday for his second PGA Tour title, shooting a 9-under 62 after flirting with a sub-60 round at calm Port Royal Golf Club in Southampton. Needing to birdie the final two holes to shoot 59, Todd missed a 20-foot birdie try on the par-5 17th and closed with a bogey after taking three shots to reach the green on the par-4 18th. He finished at 24-under 260 for a four-stroke victory over Harry Higgs in the first-year event. Todd earned a two-year exemption, $540,000 and spots at Kapalua, The Players Championship and the PGA Championship. He won the 2014 Byron Nelson for first PGA Tour title.

❚ Invesco QQQ Championship: Colin Montgomerie won the PGA Tour Champions tournament in Thousand Oaks, California, with a par on the first hole of a playoff after Bernhard Langer took four strokes to get out of a greenside bunker. With Langer finally on the par-4 18th green in six shots, Montgomerie two-putted for the victory, with the 56-year-old Scot tapping in from 2 feet to end the second of three events in the PGA Tour Champions’ Charles Schwab Cup playoffs. The top 36 in the season standings advanced to the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship next week in Phoenix. Points leader Scott McCarron closed with a 77 to tie for 43rd at even par.

❚ LPGA Swinging Skirts: Defending champ Nelly Korda birdied the first hole of a three-way playoff Sunday to win in Taipei. Korda and Minjee Lee both birdied the final hole of regulation to finish at 18-under 270 and force a playoff with Caroline Masson, who shot 68.