Rory McIlroy on Sunday snapped an 18-month US PGA victory drought, overcoming a tense last-hole dilemma to win his third Wells Fargo Championship by one stroke, while Taiwan’s C.T. Pan tied for 18th place.
The 32-year-old from Northern Ireland defied windy conditions to win his 19th career US PGA title, firing a final-round three-under-par 68 to finish 72 holes at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, on 10-under 274.
It was the first victory by McIlroy since the WGC HSBC Champions at Shanghai in November 2019 and it comes with the start of the year’s second major tournament, the PGA Championship, looming on Thursday next week.
Photo: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY
“It’s awesome,” McIlroy said. “It’s never easy to win out here.”
“It has felt like a long time since that victory in China in 2019. The world is a completely different place than it was before. We’ve been through a pandemic,” he said.
Mexico’s Abraham Ancer was second on 275 after a closing 66 with Norway’s Viktor Hovland and American Keith Mitchell sharing third on 276 and 2019 US Open champion Gary Woodland fifth on 277.
Pan, 29, shot a three-under-par 68 on the final round, with birdies on the first, fourth and fifth holes and an eagle on the 14th. Despite bogeys on the 15th and 17th holes, it was his best performance in the tournament, having earlier shot a 74, 69 and 72 to end with a one-under-par 283.
McIlroy’s triumph was also his first as a father, after his wife, Erica, gave birth to daughter Poppy last year, and it came on Mother’s Day.
McIlroy also won at Quail Hollow in 2010 for his first US PGA triumph and again in 2015, when he fired a course-record 61 in the third round and cruised to a seven-stroke victory.
“It’s just awesome to play in front of these people again,” McIlroy said.
“To bring the best out of myself, I need this. I feed off the energy so much, maybe no place more so than this,” he added.
Additional reporting by staff reporter
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