“They all putt differently, they all have their different mannerisms, so I knew Phil wasn’t going to have me get into a certain position I didn’t want to be in or felt uncomfortable with”.
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Now, he just had to wait and see if he’d be caught.
The Englishman hit a monster drive on the par 5, leaving himself 223 yards, from where he knocked a 4-iron almost 60 feet from the pin.
On the 14th hole, Casey was preparing to address a almost 42-foot birdie putt when the whipping wind forced to him stop and let out a “Wow” at the gusty conditions.
The former world No. 1 looked back to his best after storming to victory at the Deutsche Bank Championship Monday to claim his first PGA Tour title for 16 months.
On top of this being a statement victory in a year of struggles, McIlroy did it in a sublime manner.
He reached 15 under after birdieing No. 12, but dropped a shot with his first bogey at No. 17.
Back in February, Chamblee said McIlroy’s ‘extensive weightlifting” was a “concern” for him – to which the 27-year-old responded on Twitter with a video of him lifting – while at The Open, Miller said he got “carried away with wearing tight shirts and showing off his muscles’.
“I don’t know if any criticism is unfair”, McIlroy said in quotes reported by Sky Sports.
Somehow, he would fight to even par by the end of the first round, despite that big blow. But a birdie on the last pilled the pressure on Casey, whose final round 73 told the story as much of his own shortcomings as it did of the weight of pressure exerted by McIlroy. Scott had six birdies for a 29 on the back.
The current world No5 ranked McIlroy went into the last day sharing seventh place at nine under par after rounds 71, 67 and 66. He missed a par putt from 5 feet on the 11th that put him two shots behind, and he fell back again with another three-putt bogey on the 14th. 8 and 9 to go out in 5-under 31.
McIlroy was four-over par after his first three holes on Friday before recovering to lead the field in both driving distance and putting average to finish 15-under par.
Such a victory looked out of reach when McIlroy triple-bogeyed his third hole in the opening round to slip to four-over par on Friday, but he backed up his impressive long-game with a vastly improved putting display to clinch his 12th PGA Tour title and his first since winning the Wells Fargo Championship in May previous year.
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McIlroy seized the lead for good at No.12 when, after his drive ended up in a fairway divot, he knocked his approach to 22 feet and made the putt. Talk about quick results.
