Masters champion Danny Willett was three shots adrift of McIlroy heading into the final round, but a closing five-over 77 saw him plummet down the leaderboard.
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“Still I had 273 into that pin on 16”.
“Something like this has been coming and I’ve been working really, really hard at it. I just stuck with my guns, done the stuff I’ve been working on in practice and it’s all paid off”.
“It all just sort of hit me”.
“I felt I needed a week like this to kick-start something”.
World No. 2 Jordan Spieth was also seeking to return to the winners’ circle at the PGA Byron Nelson Championship yesterday.
Another Knox birdie followed from 12 feet on the next and the Scotsman took a courageous line to make a gain on the eighth just before a delay of an hour and nine minutes due to hailstorm. McIlroy grinned and brushed away a tear or two as he approached the green. He made par at the par-4 17th after a birdie putt lipped out.
McIlroy was three shots clear of his rivals, at nine-under and standing on the 16th tee at 8:20pm, when he became locked in talks with a European Tour official over the value of teeing up in the deteriorating light and continuing rain at the K Club. I’ve watched both of those approaches 20 times now. Rory’s shots always have.
He went on to record an eagle on the par-five 18th.
The Holywood native hosted the tournament in the K Club along with his charity the Rory Foundation.
Dodging hail storms and numerous stoppages of play during the week with the finicky Irish weather, McIlroy also had the blessing and curse of being tournament host.
“I don’t usually get emotional winning tournaments”, McIlroy told Golf Channel. “I started to choke up a little bit walking off the green”.
“It’s amusing, I had the exact same distance in the pro-am and JP (Fitzgerald, his caddie) tried to get me to hit a four-iron but I didn’t like it”, McIlroy added.
There was controversy when RTÉ went to an ad break for what was one of the golf shots of the season on the 18th hole. The kids we’ve helped out this week.
The way McIlroy won could be long-lasting too. This is his first win worldwide since last November. It was just a matter of everything clicking.
And the world number 30, who beat McIlroy in the third-fourth place play-off in the WGC-Dell Match Play in March, then bogeyed the last on the resumption to joint France’s Gregory Bourdy and Romain Wattel in the clubhouse lead on three under.
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Straight towards an epic summer.
