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8/11/2014

Major McIlroy Wins Second PGA

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Rory McIlroy claimed his second major title in four weeks and a third win in succession in a thrilling, weather-affected climax to the US PGA Championship.

McIlroy carded a closing 68 at Valhalla to finish 16 under par, one shot ahead of Phil Mickelson after a remarkable final day which finished in near-darkness, with the lights blazing from the clubhouse behind the 18th green.

Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson had been part of a three-way tie for the lead with Mickelson on the back nine but dropped shots on the closing stretch to finish two behind McIlroy on 14 under.

A torrential downpour which flooded the course and caused a delay of almost two hours meant it was a race against time to get play finished, so much so that Mickelson and Fowler stood aside on the 18th to allow the final group to tee off.

McIlroy's drive finished dangerously close to the water to the right of the fairway, but a closing par was enough for the 25-year-old to become the first player since Padraig Harrington in 2008 to win back-to-back majors, his victories in the Open Championship and US PGA also sandwiched by a first World Golf Championship win in the Bridgestone Invitational last week.

Lifting the Wanamaker Trophy for the second time also makes the Irishman the third youngest player after Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus to win four majors, just one less than the total won by the late Seve Ballesteros and two behind Nick Faldo.

It was the fourth time McIlroy had held the 54-hole lead in a major, the first leading to heartache in the 2011 Masters when he was four ahead entering the final round at Augusta only to collapse to a closing 80.

Two months later he bounced back in spectacular style to win the US Open by eight shots at Congressional before winning the 2012 US PGA by the same margin at Kiawah Island.

Last month he led from start to finish at Royal Liverpool, taking a six-shot lead into the final round before going on to win by two from Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler.

This time he started the day with a one-shot lead but dropped two shots in his first six holes and trailed Fowler by three as he reached the turn, Fowler having recovered from a bogey on the second with four birdies in his next five holes.

The par-five 10th had cost McIlroy a double-bogey seven on Thursday but three days later he hit a fairway wood to seven feet and holed the eagle putt to get back into contention in stunning fashion.

Mickelson then birdied the 11th to join his playing partner Fowler in the lead, the pair exchanging fist-bumps as they walked to the 12th tee, and Stenson made it a three-way tie with a birdie on the 13th.

Stenson had offered a prayer of thanks to the golfing Gods when his approach had just carried the water, only to three-putt the next to drop out of the lead and effectively end his chances of a first major title.

McIlroy missed good birdie chances on the 11th and 12th, the latter after seeing Mickelson in the group ahead hole from 30 feet across the green for an unlikely par.

But the world number one made no mistake from eight feet on the 13th to get back into a share of the lead with five holes remaining.

Fowler was the first to crack under the pressure after a wayward tee shot led to a bogey on the 14th, and when Mickelson bogeyed the 16th, McIlroy was back in the outright lead for the first time since the third hole.

As the light quickly faded, McIlroy delivered the killer blow with a birdie from nine feet on the 17th to enjoy a two-shot lead playing the last.

Mickelson did not seem happy with being asked to make way for McIlroy on the 18th but almost holed his pitch shot for an eagle, the birdie forcing McIlroy to make par for the win.

8/10/2014

Omens Favour McIlroy at Valhalla

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Rory McIlroy will take a narrow lead over Austria's Bernd Wiesberger into the final round of the US PGA Championship as he looks to claim a second major title in four weeks and third win in a row.

McIlroy took a one-shot advantage into the third round at a soggy Valhalla and held onto it thanks to a second successive 67 to lie 13 under par, but the identity of his nearest challenger came as something of a surprise.

McIlroy, who won the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool and a first World Golf Championship event in the Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday, is aiming to become the first player since Padraig Harrington in 2008 to win back-to-back majors.

The 25-year-old won his first two by eight shots and was six ahead after 54 holes at Hoylake but was happy simply to still be in the lead here.

"The guys got pretty close to me at the Open and today and I was able to respond on the back nine," McIlroy said. "It's not the biggest lead I've ever had but I am still in control of this tournament and it's still a good position to be in.

"I just knew I needed to make a couple (of birdies) coming down the back nine to keep the lead or at least be tied. The two birdies on 15 and 16 were huge.

"It's where I want to be, it's the best place to be in a tournament. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

McIlroy's Ryder Cup team-mate Graeme McDowell felt the course was playing more like a regular PGA Tour event than a major championship, but the final pairing of McIlroy and Day began their rounds scrambling for dramatic pars.

Day hooked his tee shot on the second so badly that it cleared Floyd's Fork, the creek running down the left-hand side of the hole, and into deep grass on the far side.

Television commentator David Feherty initially looked to be searching for the ball in order for Day to work out where he could take a penalty drop, but the Australian then sent his caddie Colin Swatton to wade through the creek to assist.

When the ball was found in a good enough lie for Day to be able to play it, the 26-year-old then took his shoes and socks off as well and made the journey across to the other side. Instructing Swatton to "throw me a pitching wedge", Day duly hacked out of the rough, pitched onto the green and holed from 12 feet for a remarkable par.

Two holes later it was McIlroy's turn to escape with a par after pulling his drive into a hazard on the par-four fourth, which had been reduced to 292 yards to allow players to try to drive the green.

After taking a drop McIlroy pitched to 11 feet and holed the putt, although he was joined in the lead by Day who was left with a tap-in birdie after missing from close range for an eagle.

Both players then made birdie on the fifth but McIlroy reclaimed the lead when Day bogeyed the sixth after a wild drive and the world number one was two clear when he holed from five feet on the par-five seventh for birdie.

However, McIlroy duffed his chip from the edge of the eighth green and a repeat on the 12th meant he was briefly a shot behind Wiesberger when the world number 70 birdied the 16th and almost holed his approach to the 17th.

However, McIlroy responded in stunning style, holing from 20 feet on the 15th and then reducing the 505-yard 16th to a drive and a nine-iron which stopped two feet from the hole.

"Hmmm, drive and a 9 iron into 16 #wow," Luke Donald wrote on Twitter and after Wiesberger had birdied the last there was another massive drive from McIlroy on the same hole to set up a closing birdie from a greenside bunker for the outright lead.

Wiesberger was a total of 12 over for his last two appearances in the US PGA before this week and had only made one halfway cut in five previous majors, but carded a flawless 65 which was completed in stunning fashion.

The 28-year-old world number 70 holed from inside three feet on the 505-yard 16th, almost holed his second shot to the 17th and then left an eagle pitch just inches short on the 18th.

"It was a dream come true really, going out there with Phil (Mickelson), one of my heroes," said Wiesberger, who lost a play-off for the Lyoness Open in his native Vienna in June, the event he won in 2012 for his second European Tour title.

"I played beautifully today, I didn't miss a lot of shots, set up a few nice opportunities on the last few holes especially. I'm very proud of myself the way I played.

"It's a completely new situation for me, only my second cut in a major in six attempts, so I am quite a rookie in this particularly situation. I have driven it really nicely this week and if I can do it again it will settle down the nerves and I am going to have fun tomorrow."

American Rickie Fowler, who has finished in a tie for fifth, second and second in this year's majors, was a shot behind Wiesberger on 11 under with Mickelson another stroke back after both shot 67. Australian Jason Day was alongside Mickelson after a 69.

Graeme McDowell carded a 71 to finish on +1, while Shane Lowry, after his round of 74, is two shots further back.

8/09/2014

GMAC Plans Moving Day

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Graeme McDowell is confident he will make a fourth consecutive Ryder Cup appearance one way or the other at Gleneagles next month.

A run of three top-10-finishes after a successful title defence at the French Open lifted McDowell into the automatic qualifying places at the start of the US PGA Championship.

But with less than three points separating McDowell, Jamie Donaldson and Luke Donald in eighth, ninth and 10th in the standings respectively, the former US Open champion could still need to rely on a wild card from European captain Paul McGinley.

“I want to be in the automatic spots if I possibly can,” said McDowell, who has just one qualifying event left on his schedule, the first FedEx Cup event in a fortnight’s time.

“I will be going out there tomorrow all guns blazing and trying to shoot a low number to finish the week. Ryder Cup is very, very important to me.

“I’m not uncomfortable. I’m optimisitic about the way I’m playing, I’m optimisitc about my chances of finishing in the automatic spots and I’d be farily optimistic of the chances of a pick. I am not really too worried about it.

“My form the last couple of months has certainly shown the captain that I’m playing well. I will take a week off then get ready for the play-offs, keep some energy in the tank.

“I think I am pretty much guaranteed (to qualify for) the first three play-offs, but we are having our baby the second week so I will spend that week at home and experience that next chapter in my life.”

McDowell, who secured the winning point at Celtic Manor in 2010, was in the first group out in the third round at Valhalla and finished play before tournament officials were ready to record his score and that of playing partner Brendon Todd.

In McDowell’s case it was a level-par 71 which featured four birdies but a quadruple-bogey eight on the 13th, where he hit two approach shots into water surrounding the green.

“I played beautifully this morning, it’s so disappointing to make an elementary quadruple bogey, a card-wrecker, tournament-wrecker, weekend-wrecker, all of the above really,” McDowell added. “I think there might have been mud on the first ball but my second attempt was a bad shot.

“This was not really a course I was going to be able to compete on. I’m 71st in driving distance this week out of the 74 players who made the cut. The damage was done Thursday, I didn’t really feel myself. My lower back was in bad shape on Friday and this morning was the only day I felt ready for it.

“It’s a slog out there when you are only moving it 280 (yards) off the tee. You say ‘only’ 280 but it really is in this day and age when Jason Day is flying it 320, Rory is flying it 330. I am four shots behind these guys before I tee it up each day so I have to play very well elsewhere which I just haven’t done.

“I’m literally wearing the grooves off my 5-wood, 3-hybrid and my four and five irons.”

Shane Lowry in Dark Start

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Shane Lowry felt it was “a joke” that play started in a torrential downpour on the second day of the US PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Lowry was in the first group out at 7:30am local time but was unable to complete the opening hole before play was suspended.

And to make matters worse, the 27-year-old and playing partners Ryan Palmer and Bob Sowards were kept out on the course as officials believed the rain would clear quickly.

“I think to be honest, when we were playing the first hole, it was a joke,” said Lowry, who bogeyed the first two holes and went on to add a 74 to his opening 68. “You couldn’t see the flight of the ball after 150 yards.

“I called the referee over and said it to him but he said ’No, play on’. Then we were standing at the back of the first green for an hour, standing in the rain, nowhere to sit down, nothing to do.

“From there on it was just a grind for me all day. I’m obviously quite disappointed with the score I shot but it could have been a lot worse. I made a few par saves out there and my head was a bit off all day. The start that we had unsettled me a lot.”

The heavy rain also meant it was quite dark when play began and Lowry added: “It was their call and we had to deal with it. I feel like we should have been taken in. What was wrong with taking us in and starting an hour later?

“It was borderline playable. There was an element about it that if we were being picky, we could have said it was too dark.

“It set the tone for my whole day which was disappointing because, the golf I’m playing at the minute, I really felt I could go out there, shoot a decent score and put myself in a good position in to the weekend.”

Palmer shrugged off the conditions to add a second round of 70 to his opening 65 and finish seven under par, two shots behind clubhouse leader Rory McIlroy.

“It was tough when we teed off,” Palmer said. “I wasn’t quite sure if we should have teed off to be honest with you, you could barely see the fairway. ”It was tough when we got to the first green, we couldn’t get a clean lie with the standing water, so they couldn’t even squeegee it clear enough.

“We were questioning in the fairway why we had to hit into a puddle because the first green was already under water. They said, ’That’s just golf’. We’re like, tell the guy indoors that’s making the decision to come check it out, because it’s wet.

“When we got to the green, sure enough, it was casual water all over the green. They tried squeegeeing it and they couldn’t even do that for my line. We ended up sitting up there for 45 minutes in the (camera) tower with the volunteers taking pictures of all the water.

“Fortunately it lightened up like they said it would and we were able to continue. I was able to hit great shots coming in and birdied the last two holes. It’s nice to go relax this afternoon sitting at seven under going into the weekend.”

8/08/2014

McIlroy Posts PGA Target

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Rory McIlroy described his second round in the US PGA Championship at Valhalla as “a job well done”.

The 25-year-old Northern Irishman followed up his opening 66 with a four-under 67 to move to nine under at the halfway stage.

World number one Rory McIlroy shot 67 to lead the US PGA Championship after round two.

McIlroy, who is bidding to complete a hat-trick of victories after his wins in The Open and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, made a slow start in torrential rain in Louisville.

He bogeyed the 12th, after starting at the 10th, but got back on track with birdies at the 13th and 15th and missed from six feet for another on the 16th.

But he made amends by holing from 30 feet for an eagle on the 18th and could have had another eagle on the seventh, missing from eight feet after a stunning five-wood approach.

That birdie took him to eight under and another birdie at the ninth left him two shots clear of the field when he completed his round.

“I think it was a job well done,” McIlroy told Sky Sports. “The conditions were very tricky whenever the rain was coming down, obviously, and you sort of just had to wait for the moment when you had a break in the weather and you could sort of take advantage of the soft conditions.

“But I would have taken 67 going out this morning so yes it’s a job well done.

"The golf course was pretty wet so the ball is not running anywhere and whenever it's like that and no rain coming down it is very playable and you could make a score."

The world No 1 insists he is not thinking about lifting the trophy at this stage and is just concentrating on his game.

“Honestly, I am not thinking about winning,” added McIlroy. “I am just trying to think about trying to play solid golf and every shot at a time.

“I am sticking to my couple of little thoughts I have out there, a couple of little sort of trigger words that I have, and it has been working well. So I just need to keep doing that for the next two days.”

McIlroy Remains in PGA Mix

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Rory McIlroy overcame a mid-round wobble to put himself firmly in contention after the opening round of the US PGA Championship at Valhalla.

The new world No 1, who is bidding for a hat-trick of victories following his wins in the Open Championship and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, continued his fine form with three birdies on the front nine.

However, the wheels came off at the par-five 10th when he hooked his second shot out of bounds from the centre of the fairway and ran up a double-bogey seven.

He followed that up by three-putting the par-three 11th to slip back to level par and six shots off the lead.

McIlroy quickly steadied the ship, though, and stormed back up the leaderboard with four successive birdies from the 12th.

He then closed his round with another birdie at the 18th when his eagle putt shaved the hole to deny him a share of the lead.

"Things like 10 happen, you hit bad shots every now and again," he told Sky Sports. "I was really annoyed with myself to bogey the next hole as well, not to shake that off.

"But, after I hit the second shot at 12, I gave myself a little 'come on, that was better' and that sort of kick-started things.

"Thirteen was a good yardage for me. I knew it was just a good sand wedge, and that I could pitch it past the hole and that the slope and the spin would help it come back.

"It nearly went in but you settle for a birdie there and that was one of the good birdie opportunities on the back nine."

The 25-year-old admitted he was proud of the way he fought back.

"Three-putting after making double on 10, my response after that was really good, and it shows mentally where I am at with my game," he said.

"I'm really happy with the five-under start."

The Northern Irishman also believes he is driving the ball better than he has ever done in his career.

He said: "Yes, just look at the stats (average driving distance 327.8, driving accuracy 85.71%). I am driving the ball fantastically well, I'm really confident with it and the fairways this week are a little more generous than they were last week at Firestone.

"I feel like I can step up on these tees and hit it hard and hit the fairways so, if I can keep stats like that up for the next few days, I will be happy."

8/07/2014

Harrington Seeking Own Valhalla

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Pádraig Harrington embarks on his 16th PGA Championship campaign striving to recover the mental strength to stop him "getting in my own way".

The three-time Major winner, whose victory in this tournament in 2008 at Oakland Hills was the first by a European golfer in the event since Scotland’s Tommy Armour in 1930, is set to tee off at Valhalla on Thursday first round alongside fellow former champions Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.

Yet while the Dubliner feels his golf is in great shape it is what’s going on between the ears that is troubling him right now.

“The game is good but mentally I am getting in my own way and I am working hard to get out of it and every week I hope it is going to be the week I do,” Harrington said.

“It is the nature of things and I’ve always known the mental side of things is the area I excel in and I’ve probably put myself under a bit too much pressure in that area knowing what success it brings when it is right.

“You put a little bit more intensity into things and you try a little bit harder but sometimes these things aren’t the best when it comes to the mental side of the game.

“(It was) at a very good level before and you always try to improve on that but maybe it’s due to a little lack of intolerance having done it already and not be able to do it all the time, and maybe that has eaten away at me.”

Harrington’s frustrations have been reflected by his finishes on tour this year, his tie for fifth at the Volvo Golf Champions in South Africa in his first start of the season in January remaining his best placing of 2014. His tie for 14th at Fota Island in the Irish Open at the end of June represents the next-best finish on the European Tour while his best chance of a first top-10 finish in the United States came at the HP Byron Nelson in Texas earlier that month but was derailed by a third-round 79.

Nothing, though, that a low round wouldn’t take care of this week.

“Four of them would be nice in a row,” he said with a grin, “but then I don’t have much momentum in the game and you can see that in plenty of players that when they do get a good result, they continue to have good results and I haven’t been doing that.

“Physically, there is nothing wrong with the game at all and yes, I could do with the momentum and yes, I could do with the getting out of my own way but all those things are very logical and easily said but a lot harder to do.”

8/05/2014

McDowell Needs Valhalla Performance

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Graeme McDowell will have the Ryder Cup in mind when he tees off in the US PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club

Along with Lee Westwood, McDowell is desperate to make the European team for September's showdown at Gleneagles and know a big performance in the year's final major could secure their spots.

To triumph at Valhalla this week, they'll need to get the better of the par 71 course in Kentucky and also new world No 1 Rory McIlroy, who goes into the event on the back of superb victories in The Open Championship at Hoylake and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio on his last two starts.

“He’s the best player in the world, currently," said McDowell of his fellow Northern Irishman. "You can’t set out trying to beat him this week, you can only hope to go down the stretch on Sunday afternoon and hopefully I can be there and give it a shot

Westwood concurs that McIlroy will be hard to beat.

“He’s won more majors than any of the other new lads on the block and he seems more consistent and, technically, he seems better than most as well so there’s not too many idiosyncrasies in his swing that can go wrong,“ said the Englishman.

As well as trying to win his first major, Westwood is also hunting Ryder Cup points.

He showed signs of a return to form at Firestone last week when he closed what looked set to be a modest tournament by shooting a sparkling final round 63 to make the top 20.

Westwood said: “It’s the last chance to win a major this year. It’s an opportunity to hopefully build on what I started last week and keep playing well. It’s about time I started playing well again.”

McDowell, meanwhile, looks to be peaking at just the right time after winning the French Open last month, finishing ninth in The Open at Hoylake and warming up for Valhalla with a top 10 at Firestone on Sunday.

However, the 2010 US Open champion isn’t presuming he’s already done enough to make Paul McGinley’s team just yet.

“It looked like I’d maybe left it a little late but thankfully I’ve played really well the last couple of months and got myself in great shape going forward,” said McDowell.

“No-one’s a lock, let’s be honest, there’s lots of things that can happen between now and the team being picked.”

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