Explosion of joy in Augusta. Rory McIlroy holed out from the bunker in the 18th on Sunday and closed the Masters with a wonderful final round of -8 to finish second behind the intractable Scottie Scheffler, world number one. The Northern Irishman born in Holywood (the one from County Down with an ele less) returned to the privileged positions in a major. That prodigious talent who, at the age of 25, already had four major titles to his credit (between 2011 and 2014, two PGAs, 2012 and 2014; a British, 2014; and a US Open, 2011). and that it has been eight years without raising one of the four most coveted tournaments in golf.
At 33 years old, a professional since he was 18 and at 19 he got his first professional win at the Dubai Desert Classic, he has landed in Tulsa (Oklahoma) to play the 104th edition of the PGA Championship and it seems that he arrives as plugged in as he finished in Augusta. On the opening day, the one who was number 1 in the ranking for 95 weeks and ‘Top Ten’ for more than 300 weeks, delighted with a great game taking advantage of his punch and precision to miss a few fairways and with a high level with the putter he signed seven birdies for two bogeys to seal a spectacular initial tour of 65 strokes (-5).
“When you feel your game like that, it’s just a matter of going out there and sticking to your game plan, executing it to the best of your ability and just staying in your own little world. I did really well today.” assured a more than satisfied McIlroy, who was the best of all the players of the morning session (Arnaus +2 and Larrazábal +7) and also of the first day in the second major of the year, shared a game with Tiger Woods, who was clearly seen limping from the first holes and who took the extensive course of Southern Hills too long to finish with +4 after six bogeys in the last ten holes.
The legend suffers but does not give up. Of course, none of the Top-3 that shared the match during the two initial days and that were the center of attention of the evening round, certainly windier and therefore much more difficult, will do. Scottie Scheffler had quite a bit of trouble in the final part of the lap with the bunkers, the handling of the putter on the green and some bad impact to sign 71 strokes (+1), Jon Rahm suffered greatly, he had to play defense continuously and the double bogey weighed on him in the 8th to finish with 73 (+3) outside the provisional court for the moment; and Collin Morikawa, the quietest and who spent the day avoiding big problems, he made 72 (+2). On Friday they leave at 15:11 for the 10th tee. For their part, Sergio García, with a double bogey at 2 and three consecutive bogeys in the final three holes, spoiled his return and made 73 strokes (+3).
THIS IS HOW THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP GOES AFTER THE FIRST ROUND
#prodigy #regains #magic #Tulsa #Rahm #suffers