GULLANE, Scotland — Rory McIlroy birdied the final two holes in whipping wind Sunday for a 2-under 68 to win the Genesis Scottish Open, his first victory on Scottish soil, and take a load of confidence into the ultimate main of the 12 months.
McIlroy was 1 shot behind Robert MacIntyre when he performed the slope to close perfection on the par-3 seventeenth for a 4-foot birdie putt to tie for the lead. Then he delivered what McIlroy known as his finest shot of the 12 months — a 2-iron into the wind to 10 ft for a ultimate birdie.
It was a heartbreaker for MacIntyre, who was making an attempt to win his nationwide open, and he delivered a category shot of his personal. MacIntyre hammered a 3-wood from the tough on the 18th gap at The Renaissance Membership to 4 ft, pumping each fists when it dropped for a 64.
It was a outstanding closing spherical given the wind that was tough and relentless off the Firth of Forth, and it appeared for the longest time that it could give MacIntyre, 26, the signature victory of his younger profession.
As a substitute, it was McIlroy, who performed the robust again 9 in 31 and capped it off with two clutch birdies for his first win for the reason that Dubai Desert Basic.
The victory got here at a perfect time. McIlroy heads south to Royal Liverpool for the Open Championship, the place he tries to finish his nine-year drought within the majors. McIlroy gained the claret jug the final time The Open was performed at Royal Liverpool in 2014.
“That was such a tricky day — so robust,” McIlroy mentioned. “To play that again 9 in 4-under par to win the match, I am actually pleased with how I caught in there. I hit some superb photographs down the stretch. It feels unbelievable. It has been an extended six months, I really feel, since I gained in Dubai. I’ve given myself tons of possibilities, and hopefully this win type of breaks the seal for me, particularly going into subsequent week.”
McIlroy completed at 15-under 265 and moved previous Jon Rahm to No. 2 on the earth.
Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 participant on the earth, closed with a 70 and tied for third with Byeong Hun An (70) and David Lingmerth (68). Scheffler has completed among the many prime 5 in his previous seven tournaments, two of them majors.
An and Lingmerth obtained a comfort prize by incomes spots in The Open, awarded to the main three gamers not already exempt. The ultimate spot went to Nicolai Hojgaard (67), who will be a part of twin brother Rasmus at Royal Liverpool.
The Scottish crowd had been chanting MacIntyre’s identify all week round The Renaissance Membership, and so they roared when he delivered the 3-wood and birdie putt to the 18th, one of many hardest closing holes on tour.
MacIntyre was so caught up within the second he needed to maintain again tears leaving the inexperienced.
“I will always remember it. I needed to take a minute coming off 18,” he mentioned. “If not The Open, the Scottish Open shall be up there with the occasion I need to play for the remainder of my life. It is one I’ve dreamed of successful since I watched at residence, and I believed immediately coming down as soon as I birdied 18, I believed, this may be the one. But it surely’s to not be simply now.
“Rory McIlroy’s probably one of the best on the earth, and he confirmed why immediately.”
McIlroy matched him with a shot each bit nearly as good.
He was 201 yards from the pin, useless into the wind, an ideal 3-iron for him — besides that McIlroy determined to switch his 3-iron with a 2-iron for the windy week.
“The 4-iron was solely getting me to the entrance edge,” McIlroy mentioned. He wanted to hit a 2-iron with somewhat minimize and somewhat peak to let the wind take off a number of the distance, and “it got here off completely completely.”
“It is in all probability one of the best shot I’ve hit all 12 months,” McIlroy mentioned. “If you hit a shot like that, I really feel like I deserved to gap the putt to complete it off like that.”
The match was co-sanctioned by the European tour and the PGA Tour. McIlroy expanded his lead atop the Race to Dubai, although he nonetheless has work to do to catch as much as Rahm and Scheffler within the FedEx Cup.
