Rory McIlroy wins WGC – Bridgestone Invitational
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland continued his superb run of form to win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Ohio by two strokes from Spain’s Sergio Garcia.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland continued his superb run of form to win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Ohio by two strokes from Spain’s Sergio Garcia.
Just two weeks after his victory in the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, McIlroy has moved to the Number 1 spot on the Official World Golf Ranking.
McIlroy began the final round three shots behind Garcia but when the Northern Irishman birdied four of his first five holes, and the Spaniard played the same stretch in one-over-par, McIlroy moved two clear.
Garcia clawed his way back to level terms after nine holes but McIlroy moved ahead once more with a birdie on the 11th. When Garcia failed to get up-and-down from beside the 15th green, the lead was two once more and McIlroy held on to that advantage to the finish. Just as at Royal Liverpool, Garcia had to settle for second place.
"What I am really proud of this week is following on from The Open with a performance like this," McIlroy said. "I said straight after Hoylake I did not want any let down, I wanted to keep going and performing until the end of the season. It's great to come to one of my favourite tournaments of the year and to perform like this I am pretty satisfied."
Australia’s Marc Leishman produced a solid round of 67 to end the week alone in third.
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After rain had softened the course, there was some low scoring at Firestone on Sunday. Charl Schwartzel and Patrick Reed climbed the leaderboard with final rounds of 64 and 65 respectively. They finished tied for fourth with Keegan Bradley and Justin Rose.
Earlier, Phil Mickelson produced 10 birdies and only two bogeys in a round of 62.
With two weekend rounds of 66, Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland edged himself closer to one of the automatic qualifying spots for the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Firestone CC, Akron, Ohio Jul 31 – Aug 3, purse $9,000,000, par 70
1 Rory McIlroy (NIR) 69 64 66 66 265 $1,530,000 2 Sergio Garcia (Esp) 68 61 67 71 267 $900,000 3 Marc Leishman (Aus) 64 69 68 67 268 $522,000 T4 Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 65 69 73 64 271 $308,000 T4 Patrick Reed (USA) 67 68 71 65 271 $308,000 T4 Keegan Bradley (USA) 68 67 67 69 271 $308,000 T4 Justin Rose (Eng) 65 67 70 69 271 $308,000 T8 Graeme McDowell (NIR) 71 70 66 66 273 $170,000 T8 Rickie Fowler (USA) 67 67 72 67 273 $170,000 T8 Ryan Moore (USA) 65 73 68 67 273 $170,000 T8 Adam Scott (Aus) 69 68 65 71 273 $170,000
Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage
Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.
Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?
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