When one suggested that his final approach was superior, McIlroy brought the house down with his reply: “If you were a real golfer, you’d appreciate the 16th”.
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“It wasn’t bad, a little bit scrappy”, the 28-year-old said.
Rory McILroy’s fairway-wood second shots from 273 yards and 252 yards to the 16th and 18th greens announced his return to form, providing the impetus behind his victory in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at the K Club in Kildare, Ireland, on Sunday. However, his commitment to golf on his home patch has been demonstrated in a number of different ways over the past few years – including his decision to host the Irish Open, a move which has added enormously to the credibility and prestige of the tournament.
Third-ranked McIlroy long has made winning the Irish Open an elusive priority, his past failures all the more awkward because he’s also the tournament’s official host and donates his prize money to his Rory Foundation children’s charity.
I don’t really get emotional when I win, but I was holding back the tears there.
McIlroy is one of Ireland’s biggest hopes of a medal in the Olympics this year – and on today’s form his position among the favourites is more than justified.
“We’ve broken the million euro mark this week, which is absolutely incredible”, he said.
“Other people think you’re able to come out and win every week because you won a major, but we know that doesn’t happen”.
Don’t forget about me, guys.
Play eventually resumed after a delay of two hours and twenty minutes, but McIlroy wasted no time in making his second birdie of the day on the 10th to extend his lead to three shots. Knox, who retains Ryder Cup hopes, will feature in the PGA Championship at Wentworth from Thursday.
Dredge got to seven under with a birdie on the 13th but it was Knox who was applying the major pressure and he rolled in from 20 feet on the 14th before hitting a brilliant second into the next to take a one-shot lead.
Qualifying School graduate Matthew Southgate finished fourth at eight under to claim the best result of his career just ten months after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. “I can’t put it into words”. I’ve worked my whole life to be doing things like this, and to do it, I can barely talk about it. I’m choked up about it.
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“I wasn’t even in this tournament on Monday night”. I was a reserve and got a phone call. I needed to do something.
