PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Rory McIlroy performed a recreation practically as magnificent because the Pebble Seaside surroundings Sunday as he powered his well past a pack of contenders and closed with a 6-under 66 for a two-shot victory within the AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am.
McIlroy is likely one of the prime sights in golf, which solely added to the enchantment of the shocking sunshine and crashing surf at America’s most well-known coastal golf course. And similar to that, a sleepy begin to the PGA Tour season had some life to it.
On a day when six gamers had not less than a share of the lead, McIlroy took the highest spot for good with an 18-foot birdie putt on the tenth gap right into a stiff breeze alongside the Pacific. He successfully ended the drama with a towering drive and a 7-iron into the 571-yard 14th gap, establishing an eagle putt from simply exterior 25 ft.
“To win at one of many cathedrals of golf is basically cool,” McIlroy mentioned.
Shane Lowry fell out of a share for the lead when he despatched his second shot over a cliff to the best of the par-5 sixth. However he shot 31 on the again 9, together with a birdie on the ultimate gap for a 68 that gave him second place alone.
Lucas Glover (67) and Justin Rose (68) have been one other shot behind. Sepp Straka, who began the ultimate spherical with a one-shot lead, had a 72 and tied for seventh.
Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 participant whose season was delayed by minor hand surgical procedure from punctured glass whereas making ravioli, closed with a 67 and tied for ninth.
McIlroy has talked about this being an vital 12 months for him, although his focus was extra on April by way of September — an eleventh probability to finish the profession Grand Slam on the Masters, a return dwelling to Northern Eire for the British Open, a highway Ryder Cup at Bethpage.
This wasn’t a nasty begin.
“It’s a extremely cool solution to begin the season,” mentioned McIlroy, who received for the second time in California. “To get this win this early means an excellent deal, and hopefully I’ll hold the momentum going into Torrey Pines in a pair weeks’ time.”
The sixth gap started to separate the pack a little bit. In consecutive teams, Rose went over the cliff together with his tee shot and Tom Kim hit down the hill towards the ocean together with his second shot. Lowry adopted him within the ultimate group, resulting in bogey.
However actually, McIlroy appeared as if he was the participant to beat from the second gap, when he hit a troublesome pitch from 50 yards away over a bunker to a again pin with sufficient peak and spin to arrange a 2-foot birdie putt.
However it was after his lone bogey on the powerful eighth gap the place he pulled away — the 18-foot birdie on the tenth, a tee shot into 8 ft for birdie on the par-3 twelfth and eventually get his due on the 14th gap. McIlroy drilled his drive for the third straight day over a tree, over the bunker complicated and into the golf green. The earlier two days, he needed to accept par.
This time, he cashed in for an eagle, extending his result in 4 photographs. And when he hit wedge into 3 ft for birdie on the fifteenth, it led to among the finest stress-free and beautiful walks on the PGA Tour.
Everybody else was left in a hopeless chase.
“When he’s good, he’s nice. And when he’s not nice, he’s good,” Glover mentioned. “There’s a purpose he’s received 20-something wins and a bunch of majors and the sport he has. Spectacular spherical on the market right now beneath the stress and beneath the situations.”
McIlroy received for the twenty seventh time on the tour and is twenty first on the profession victory listing. He’s been caught on 4 majors since profitable the PGA Championship 11 years in the past, and that he’s positive to be reminded of that because the Masters will get closers.
For now, this can do. It’s his second victory in a signature occasion that McIlroy and different prime gamers helped to create.
“When he’s good, he’s nice and when he’s not nice, he’s good,” Glover mentioned. “There’s a purpose he’s received 20-something wins and a bunch of majors and the sport he has. Spectacular spherical on the market right now beneath the stress and beneath the situations.”
McIlroy received his second signature occasion — he received at Quail Hole final 12 months — to earn $3.6 million. He completed at 21-under 267, one shot to par away from the event report.
Lowry not less than tried to make him sweat, staying inside vary till lacking a 7-foot birdie putt on the seventeenth gap that may have narrowed the hole to 2. His ultimate birdie, nevertheless, gave him a tidy comfort of $2.16 million for second place.
“I at all times say I consider when gamers like Rory McIlroy turns up they usually have their ‘A’ recreation, they’re fairly unattainable to beat,” Lowry mentioned.