Golf | US PGA Tour McIlroy wins Bridgestone to claim top ranking 04 August 2014, 02:23 Rory McIlroy continued his dominating form when he won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by two strokes on Sunday and regained the world number one ranking, replacing Australias Adam Scott. McIlroy made a sizzling start to the final round with three consecutive birdies to quickly erase a three-stroke deficit and surge past Sergio Garcia at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. The Northern Irishman carded a 66 to finish at 15-under-par 265, while Spaniard Garcia (71) was second on 13-under, with Australian Marc Leishman (67) another shot back in third place. Defending champion Tiger Woods pulled out of the tournament after aggravating his troublesome back, raising more questions about the playing future of the 14-times major champion. McIlroy, 25, took the world number one ranking for the fifth separate occasion, and the first since March of last year, displacing Scott, who had been on top for 11 weeks. McIlroy, who won the British Open in his previous start two weeks ago, collected $1.53 million for his first victory in a World Golf Championships event. And he did not sound like he was ready to rest on his laurels as he heads to the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Kentucky, where he will seek a fourth major title. Mentally Im really sharp, he told reporters. Its the most comfortable Ive ever felt trying to close out a golf tournament out there today. It felt normal, like a first or second round. It didnt feel like the fourth round. I didnt get ahead of myself. I just kept playing shot after shot after shot. His current form is the best of his career, he said, even better than at this time two years ago, when he won the PGA Championship by eight strokes. Not that he played flawlessly on Sunday, but he invariably extricated himself from trouble with an assured putting stroke that limited the damage to just one bogey. I had a couple of wobbles, rode my luck a little bit on the back nine, hit a couple of tree limbs and got lucky a couple of times, he admitted. Garcia finished second to McIlroy for the second event in a row, but this time had only himself to blame as his putting touch deserted him. I didnt feel comfortable on the greens at all, with the speed of the greens changing quite dramatically after the (morning) rain, he said. They were quite slow and I started second-guessing myself every single putt. The good putts I hit I misread and the bad ones werent going in the right direction either. Garcias errant drive at the third hole hit a female spectators wedding ring and dislodged the diamond. He was long gone after hitting his next shot before a search party eventually located the missing jewel in the thick rough. Even the early departure of Woods, who pulled out on the ninth hole after aggravating his surgically-repaired back, could not steal the limelight from McIlroy. But the Northern Irishman acknowledged he had a long way to go to be spoken of in the same breath as Woods. Im not comparing myself. Hes done this millions of times, McIlroy said. FINAL SCORES 265 Rory McIlroy (Britain) 69 64 66 66 267 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 68 61 67 71 268 Marc Leishman (Australia) 64 69 68 67 271 Justin Rose (Britain) 65 67 70 69, Patrick Reed (US) 67 68 71 65, Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 65 69 73 64, Keegan Bradley (US) 68 67 67 69 273 Graeme McDowell (Britain) 71 70 66 66, Ryan Moore (US) 65 73 68 67, Rickie Fowler (US) 67 67 72 6, Adam Scott (Australia) 69 68 65 71 274 Matt Kuchar (US) 71 66 72 65, Brandt Snedeker (US) 68 68 68 70, Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) 70 71 65 68 275 Hunter Mahan (US) 71 65 71 68, Phil Mickelson (US) 71 73 69 62, Jim Furyk (US) 69 68 69 69, Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 69 68 69 69 276 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 71 66 68 71, Gary Woodland (US) 70 68 68 70, Kevin Stadler (US) 71 70 66 69, Lee Westwood (Britain) 72 71 70 63 277 Branden Grace (South Africa) 69 71 67 70, Zach Johnson (US) 70 70 68 69, Kevin Na (US) 71 73 66 67 278 Ernie Els (South Africa) 71 69 70 68, J.B. Holmes (US) 69 69 67 73, Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay) 70 71 68 69, John Senden (Australia) 74 66 67 71, Jimmy Walker (US) 69 70 70 69 279 Victor Dubuisson (France) 72 70 69 68, Webb Simpson (US) 72 69 70 68, Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 73 68 70 68, Harris English (US) 69 69 68 73, Matt Jones (Australia) 70 70 69 70, Francesco Molinari (Italy) 67 70 73 69 280 Noh Seung-Yul (South Korea) 69 69 70 72, Jamie Donaldson (Britain) 68 70 71 71, Bubba Watson (US) 69 70 73 68, Brendon De Jonge (Zimbabwe) 72 69 70 69 281 Bill Haas (US) 71 69 69 72, Russell Henley (US) 72 70 71 68, Chris Kirk (US) 69 73 72 67 282 Steven Bowditch (Australia) 69 71 73 69 283 Brendon Todd (US) 74 70 69 70, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 69 69 72 73 284 Matt Every (US) 74 68 73 69, Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 74 71 69 70 285 Jordan Spieth (US) 71 70 73 71 286 Luke Donald (Britain) 73 70 72 71, Tim Clark (South Africa) 72 73 70 71 287 Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 70 74 71 72, David Howell (Britain) 69 71 71 76, Scott Stallings (US) 72 75 68 72, Ian Poulter (Britain) 73 73 70 71 288 Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 73 73 71 71, Martin Kaymer (Germany) 77 68 72 71 289 Alexander Levy (France) 72 71 77 69, Jonas Blixt (Sweden) 75 72 69 73, Richard Sterne (South Africa) 75 70 73 71 290 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 75 73 67 75 291 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 79 71 67 74 292 Pablo Larrazabal (Spain) 71 74 77 70, Steve Stricker (US) 74 73 72 73 293 Brian Harman (US) 72 70 75 76 294 Mikko Ilonen (Finland) 75 74 73 72, Jason Dufner (US) 70 74 73 77 297 Daisuke Maruyama (Japan) 73 73 73 78 298 David Lynn (Britain) 76 72 75 75, Yoshitaka Takeya (Japan) 74 75 74 75 300 Kevin Streelman (US) 78 71 78 73 302 Estanislao Goya (Argentina) 76 77 71 78
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 06:13:22 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015