Part of what separates the great ones from the very good isn’t just that they win golf tournaments.
It’s how they win them.
That’s why Rory McIlroy’s dramatic one-stroke victory over Scotland’s own Robert MacIntyre in the co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open on Sunday further burnished the McIlroy legend.
Trailing by one with two holes remaining at the windswept Renaissance Club in North Berwick, McIlroy closed with two birdies to capture a victory that catapulted him into this week’s Open Championship, where he will be both a sentimental and betting favorite at Royal Liverpool.
It was McIlroy’s 24th PGA Tour victory but his first since the CJ Cup in South Carolina in October. McIlroy won the DP World Tour’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January but since then he has flirted with winning multiple times only to come up short.
“I've had my chances over the last couple of months and been knocking on the door. Just haven't quite been able to get it done, so hopefully this breaks the seal and we can go on from here,” McIlroy said after finishing at 15-under par 265, one better than MacIntyre, who closed with a brilliant 64 in the challenging conditions.
After tying MacIntyre with a 4½-foot birdie putt at the 17th, McIlroy ripped a 205-yard 2-iron into the wind at the finishing hole, leaving himself an 11-foot birdie putt to win.
“That's probably going to be up there with one of the best shots I’ll hit in my career,” McIlroy said of the swing that set up his winning birdie putt.
“Obviously a huge confidence boost going into the Open next week."
Rory McIlroy
The victory also strengthened McIlroy’s chances of capturing a fourth FedEx Cup and winning the Race to Dubai in the same season for the second consecutive year, plus putting him front and center at Royal Liverpool, where he won the first of consecutive major championships nine years ago to cap the 2014 season.
“Obviously a huge confidence boost going into the Open next week,” McIlroy said.
MacIntyre was on the verge of stealing McIlroy’s thunder and winning his country’s national championship after a scintillating Sunday. A week earlier, MacIntyre had a disappointing Sunday with a chance to win the Made In HimmerLand event on the DP World Tour, then forced McIlroy to beat him at the Renaissance Club.
“Last week I felt like I had two hands on the trophy, and I let it go. This week, I was nowhere near it. I wasn’t even within touching distance of the trophy and went out there and put in a performance,” MacIntyre said. “Rory McIlroy's potentially the best in the world, and he showed why today. Take my hat off to him.”
On the 18th hole with the home crowd cheering him, MacIntyre was on the cusp of fulfilling a career goal.
“I'll never forget it. I had to take a minute coming off 18. I mean, that's why I play this sport,” said the 26-year-old MacIntyre, a two-time DP World Tour winner who grew up in Oban on Scotland’s remote west coast.
“The Scottish Open will be up there with the event I want to play for the rest of my life. It's one I've dreamed of winning since I watched at home, and I thought today coming down once I birdied 18, I thought, this might be the one.
“But it's not to be just now, and plenty of years ahead.”
While the attention focused on McIlroy and MacIntyre, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler continued his extraordinary season. Scheffler’s T3 finish was his seventh consecutive top-five result, including two major championships, and he has not finished outside the top 12 on the PGA Tour since October.
With a tie for sixth place, Denmark's Nicolai Højgaard will join his twin brother, Rasmus, at the Open Championship. Nicolai Højgaard qualified via the R&A's Open Qualifying Series. His brother had earned a spot via his top-30 finish in last year's Race to Dubai standings on the DP World Tour. Sweden's David Lingmerth and South Korea's Byeong Hun An, who tied for third in the Scottish Open, also earned starting spots at Royal Liverpool.
Ron Green Jr.