Rory McIlroy – photo Getty Images
Rory McIlroy was already the favourite in many people’s eyes for this coming week’s Open Championship at Hoylake, but his stunning come from behind win at the Genesis Scottish Open has him heading south to Lancashire, confirmed as the man most likely to win the Open for the second time at Royal Liverpool.
McIlroy may well be seen as the man who shot Bambi to some extent, given that his birdie, birdie finish resulted in him defeating the man who had the clubhouse lead for 40 minutes, Robert McIntyre, who was attempting to become first Scot to win his national open since Colin Montgomerie in 1999.
McIlroy, though, had many fans of his own and while the large crowds who flocked to the Renaissance Club in North Berwick would dearly love to have seen the 21 year old McIntyre take the title, McIlroy was a truly popular winner.
For the man from Northern Ireland the win continues a remarkable run of consistency which has seen him finish inside the top ten in, now, each of his last seven starts, although his first win since the Dubai Desert Classic in February, and sets him up nicely for a 5th major, especially given his success at Royal Liverpool in 2014.
McIlroy began the final round one ahead of Korean 21 year old Tom Kim but on a day where winds gusting up to 40 m.p.h. swept the layout on the shores of the Firth of Forth, Kim, McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton and McIntyre all had the lead at various stages and several others were withing striking distance before McIntyre’s brilliant final round of 64 appeared to establish an unassailable lead, especially given the demands of the final two holes.
McIlroy missed a golden opportunity at the 16th and faced the task of producing birdies at the final two holes to win, or secure at least one to force a playoff.
His 5 iron approach at the 17th finished 4 feet from the hole then at the last he hit a superb 2 iron to 11 feet and when that was holed the title and the US$1,575,000 was his. He also becomes the first person to have won the Irish Open, the Scottish Open and the Open Championship titles.
McIlroy will move back to the number two position in the game behind Scottie Scheffler who continued his remarkable run when he shared 3rd place with David Lingmerth and Byeong Hun An.
Scheffler earns his seventh consecutive top-five on the PGA TOUR and 18th straight result of T12 or better; Scheffler’s Official Money total of $19,016,842 is the highest in a single season in PGA TOUR history.
“Yeah, it feels great,” said McIlroy. “I came here this week, we are obviously on the eve of The Open Championship but you know, you’re thinking about trying to prepare for that.
“But then you know you think about the weight that this tournament carries, being co-sanctioned for Race to Dubai, FedExCup, all the stuff at the end of the year as well, so I feel like I sort of killed two birds with one stone this week and gave myself an even bigger lead in The Race to Dubai, got myself up there in FedExCup, and obviously a huge confidence boost going into The Open next week.
“I’ve had my chances over the last couple of months and been knocking on the door. Just haven’t quite been able to get it done so hopefully this breaks the seal and we can go on from here.”
Ryan Fox – led the Australasians – file photo PGA of Australia
The leading Australasian was Ryan Fox who continued his love affair with Links golf to finish in a share of 12th, a closing nine of 32 playing a key role in his improvement from 18th overnight. Fox has recorded 4th and 6th places in this event previously.
Min Woo Lee was the next best in a share of 34th place, while Daniel Hillier was 54th and Lucas Herbert 60th.
Three players, Byeong Hun An, David Lingmerth and Nicolai Hojgaard, gained a start at next week’s Open Championship by being amongst the leading three players this week and not otherwise exempt for Royal Liverpool.
