McIlroy runs off with win
First since Tiger in ’09 with 2 straight victories
CARMEL, Ind. – Rory McIlroy faced the strongest collection of contenders at any golf tournament this year Sunday at the BMW Championship.
It was no contest.
Even more disconcerting for everyone else, Boy Wonder was expecting to win all along.
McIlroy fine-tuned his swing and missed only one fairway at soggy Crooked Stick, powering his way to a 5-under 67 to win his second straight FedEx Cup playoff event. That followed a record win at the PGA Championship, giving him three wins in his last four starts to establish himself as the dominant player.
He became the first player since Tiger Woods in 2009 to win in consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour, and with his sixth career win, he joined Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win that many at age 23.
“The more you put yourself in this position, and the more you win and the more you pick up trophies, it becomes normal,” McIlroy said after his two-shot win over Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood. “And it feels like this is what you’re supposed to do.”
For the longest time, this was what Woods used to do.
“I don’t think I’m quite there yet,” McIlroy said. “But I’m getting to that stage where I’m thinking, ‘This is what I should be doing. I should be lifting a trophy at the end of the week.’ It’s been great. The last four, five weeks have been incredible, some of the best golf that I’ve ever played. I’m going to try and keep the run going for as long as possible.”
Never mind that Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh – Hall of Famers with 74 tour wins and seven majors between them – were one shot ahead. Or that Lee Westwood, a former world No. 1, was playing alongside. Or that Woods was right behind.
McIlroy made back-to-back birdies around the turn to emerge from a four-way tie, and he turned back one last challenge from Westwood and Mickelson with clutch pars. The 23-year-old from Northern Ireland didn’t make a bogey until the 18th hole.
“By that time, I had sort of done enough,” he said.
Woods was never seriously in the mix. He made three late birdies and shot 68 to tie for fourth.