Tour News

McIlroy wins The Open Championship

Published

10 years ago

Jul 20, 2014

Rory McIlroy, at just 25-years old, added a third leg of the career Grand Slam on Sunday at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, adding his first Claret Jug to his 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA Championship victories. With this win, McIlroy became the third-youngest player behind Jack Nicklaus (23) and Tiger Woods (24) to win three out of the four major championships.

The final round had more drama than his first two major victories, which he won by eight shots apiece, but his final-round 71 was good for a two-shot win over Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler.

McIlroy began the final round six shots ahead of final-group partner Fowler and seemed to allay any concerns about his steadiness with a birdie on the first hole. He ultimately dominated both the golf course and the field throughout the week, becoming only the seventh true (no-ties at the end of any round) wire-to-wire major champion in history, the first since Tiger Woods at the 2005 Open Championship.

The northern Irishman seemed to receive some challenge late in Saturday’s third round from Fowler, as well as Garcia and Dustin Johnson, but eagles on No. 16 and 18 gave him enough space to play relatively conservatively on Sunday, forcing the field to rise to meet him in order to have any hope of unseating him. In the end, it was too big a hill for the likes of Garcia and Fowler to climb, in spite of very friendly scoring conditions throughout the final round.

For the second time in as many major championships, Rickie Fowler found himself in the final group on Sunday, ultimately more in the role of witness than true challenger once again. This is less a knock on Fowler than an admission of McIlroy’s next-level play. Fowler’s bogey-free closing 67 was an objectively splendid round, but it just wasn’t enough. Here’s hoping the golf world sees a renewal of the pairing on Ryder Cup Sunday in Scotland in a few months.

Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson had been the next closest competitors through 54 holes, both seven shots behind McIlroy when the day began. Johnson never gave serious chase but Garcia got off to a hot start—three-under par through his first five holes to draw within five shots early on. An eagle on No. 10, a par 5, brought Garcia within two shots briefly, but a chunked bunker shot on the par-3 No. 15 came at a horrendous time, and set him back to three behind. A makeable birdie putt on No. 17 did not challenge the hole and Garcia could only manage a birdie on No. 18, so he will have to wait longer for his elusive first major championship.

To be sure, McIlroy’s Sunday trip around the course known colloquially as Hoylake was not quite as smooth as his first three. Three pars followed his opening birdie before consecutive bogeys at the par-5 No. 5 and the par-3 No. 6 made for a tense stretch of holes where his lead shrunk to two shots at times. He was able to steady the ship with pars at seven and eight, followed by birdies at the No. 9 and 10. After two more pars, a wayward tee shot at the par-3 No. 13 led to a bogey, bringing the field a little closer once again. But he was able to match Garcia’s birdie at the par-5 No. 16, all the while staving Fowler off.

The course that greeted players this week seemed only nominally the same as the one that last hosted the Open in 2006. Whereas that year’s event saw hot, dry and dusty conditions that forced players to play every shot along ground that seemed as firm as concrete, this year a far more lush course and relatively calm weather permitted more aerial attacks and generally aggressive play.

Tiger Woods put on a tremendous display of ball-striking and pure tactical play en route to victory in 2006. McIlroy’s style of play this week was very different but equally impressive. As he did in his first two major victories, McIlroy used his driver primarily as a weapon, unleashing several prodigious tee shots each day that allowed him to be more aggressive on his approach shots than the bulk of the field, especially into Hoylake’s four par-fives. He played them in 12-under par for the week.

What the event lacked in white-knuckle drama it more than retained in leaderboard quality. After a couple somewhat unheralded Open Champions and near-winners into the middle part of the 2000’s, the last half dozen or so have been big-time names. It is both a testament to the R&A’s setup of the Open rota of late, as well as the amount of talent at the top of the golf world today. Only one player who finished in the top ten, Edoardo Molinari, is ranked outside the top 70 in the world according to the Official World Golf Rankings.

Only three weeks separate The Open from the PGA Championship, which returns to Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., for the first time since 2000, when Tiger Woods triumphed over the upstart Bob May. Much has changed in golf since then, and the Jack Nicklaus-designed course should suss out a fourth worthy major champion for 2014.

Click here to see the clubs Rory McIlroy used to win The Open Championship.

Your Reaction?

LIKE0
LEGIT0
WOW0
LOL0
IDHT0
FLOP0
OB0
SHANK0

Related Topics:

Up Next

McIlroy’s Dad Wins $171,000 Bet on Son

Don't Miss

McIlroy (16-under) takes 6 shot lead at The Open

Tim Gavrich

Tim grew up outside of Hartford, Conn., playing most of his formative golf at Hop Meadow Country Club in the town of Simsbury. He played golf for four years at Washington & Lee University (Division-III) and now lives in Pawleys Island, S.C., and works in nearby Myrtle Beach in advertising. He's not too bad on Bermuda greens, for a Yankee. A lifelong golf addict, he cares about all facets of the game of golf, from equipment to course architecture to PGA Tour news to his own streaky short game.

24 Comments

Pingback: McIlroy wins The Open Championship | Spacetimeandi.com
Rich

Jul 20, 2014 at 5:53 pm

Awesome. Great to see Rory win his third major. Great to see Richie Fowler play well again as well. He must have the best or close to the best record in the majors combined this year. He’s really stepped it up. Good stuff.

Reply Report comment
- Rich
  
  Jul 20, 2014 at 5:54 pm
  
  Whoops, I meant Rickie Fowler of corse. Cheers
  
  Reply Report comment
- Greg
  
  Jul 20, 2014 at 6:09 pm
  
  RF has a T-3 at the Masters, T-2 at the US Open and now a T-2 at The Open Championship (aka, British Open), so I believe you are correct that Rickie has the best combined record for the first three majors so far.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Nigel
    
    Jul 21, 2014 at 6:17 am
    
    Lucky you put aka British Open otherwise we’d all have been confused at what tournament The Open Championship is! Thanks for your help Greg
    
    Reply Report comment
    - Fred
      
      Jul 21, 2014 at 10:42 pm
      
      Nigel: of course, the British Open is more often than not referred to as THE Open. Believe it’s the oldest of the four majors. Great to see a European win it.
      
      Reply Report comment
      - Nigel
        
        Jul 22, 2014 at 4:15 am
        
        Yeah that’s true Fred. The Open Championship is just a nickname for the British Open because it’s the oldest of the four majors. Everyone knows that!
        
        Reply Report comment
  - Fred
    
    Jul 21, 2014 at 10:40 pm
    
    At this point in the season, I think Rickie has more right to called “Golf’s #1” than Adam Scott. Just goes to show you how flawed the rankings really are; they’re not based on how well someone is playing, only statistics. Good for Rickie, and a big congrats to Rory – well deserved!!
    
    Reply Report comment
    - Rich
      
      Jul 25, 2014 at 8:37 pm
      
      You’re kidding right. He hasn’t won anything this year yet. Don’t get me wrong I think RF is cool and he’s playing really well these days but he’s hardly number one. There’s a few other guys that I would put in front of him at the moment, including Adam Scott even though his form is not perfect at the moment.
      
      Reply Report comment
Greg

Jul 20, 2014 at 5:42 pm

The writer must not be a Rickie fan cuz Fowler started the day 6 shots back and finished only 2 shots back so a little more than just ” the role of witness than true challenger once again” doesn’t really give credit where credit is due!

Rickie was the only competitor to shoot in the sixties for all four rounds. Normally good enough to win majors, if not for Rory’s play in the first three rounds.

Congrats to Rory, as well as nice playing Sergio.

Reply Report comment
Straightdriver235

Jul 20, 2014 at 5:16 pm

“Sussed out?” Let’s forget the asterisk by this one openly gifting McAvoy nice weather for his third round when he ought to have faced gale force winds, or a morning finish of his third round. Having watched this on Tv I can see why golf is in so much trouble. The coverage was some of the worst I have ever seen in 44 years of watching. You got the idea there were only 3 players in the tournament. This write up affirms the whole idea of there being only one or three persons worthwhile in the whole tournament. The reference that Molinari somehow did not belong, absurdly ridiculous. Let’s go with that, McAvoy beat Molinari by slightly less than two shots per day (even if he outdrove him by 80 yards and was likely outgolfed by the shorter hitter), basically then 2% “better” play, for which McAvoy earns a paycheck that is 10X greater than Molinari, but for which the seconds of coverage of Molinari versus that of McAvoy ran about… what, 1 to 10,000. The producers and writers of golf tournaments must think we far prefer to watch McAvoy tug his shirt, or strut about, or have retakes of him pointing out unruly fans than we do to watch accomplished Italian or French golfers for nothing more than maybe one or two brief strikes a round…. maybe a missed 4 foot putt to reassure us we are watching and reading about the right people. Why have bothered at all… just write up the story before the week started, and have the R&A provide the necessary tee time insurance to make sure the Molinari’s of the world are “sussed out”?

Reply Report comment
- Paul
  
  Jul 20, 2014 at 9:09 pm
  
  you’d think in 44 years of watching golf you’d have watched an Open championship before?
  weather always plays a part in the open, but having you tee off morning one day then afternoon the next is the closest physically possible to trying to even it out (as often wind picks up in the afternoon).
  the weekend tee times are dictated in the first two days (which could be called qualification).
  the open championship is usually the best to watch all year (aside from the camera men losing the ball mid-air more frequently as its often overcast), the shot tracker is massively underused world wide – but at the open they make a point of using it (unfortunately not as often this year compared with previous)
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Straightdriver235
    
    Jul 21, 2014 at 7:14 am
    
    Presumably the director has 20 camera choices they can cut to at any given time, so why are we watching Rory walk 50 yards and tug at his shirt sleeve while up ahead Dubuisson has hit to 35 feet for an eagle putt to pull within 3? I have friends who say golf is the most boring sport to watch on TV, and I agree. No action is shown, the whole thing is simply follow the leader and his every move. Personally I want to watch and learn how good players pursue a lead much more than they show here. I recall 1975 Masters, 1972 U.S. Open, 1980 U.S. open, etc. where they are showing many more players… although they always did keep the cameras off Cal Peete as well unless it was a sure thing he’d win… curious thing, of the several times he almost won a us. open he got about the airtime they gave to Molinari yesterday. Still, they should be obliged to show us in detail about 15 or 20 players rounds, which they could, instead of Rory tugs at his shirt and swaggers again. Who in their right mind cares?
    
    Reply Report comment
    - Straightdriver235
      
      Jul 21, 2014 at 7:17 am
      
      And the weekend times were dictated in a tent by the R&A, and had it been, say, Molinari leading by 6, you can darn well bet they would have played the saturday round like they have over a hundred times in a row previously… suddenly, out of the blue, we are concerned about tough weather in the afternoon because Rory is in the lead. They have dealt with bad weather previously, but not now.
      
      Reply Report comment
    - Mark
      
      Jul 23, 2014 at 7:21 am
      
      Totally agree. In fact I am finding that most golf telecasts are like this now. I get continually frustrated, especially watching the US tournaments. When they are not showing the top few they are showing someone way down the list (if they are American). The Open used to be great to watch but I did not enjoy it this year & not just because I didn’t see Leishman once (& he finished tied 5th!).
      I think the aussie telecasts are best just because they do show more players, no other reason. The aussie audiences do not want to just see their own players. They love the fact that overseas players take the time to come down here & play & we want to see something of them in the telecast.They aren’t all on big appearance money, many younger players come down to play also. If they are having a decent run they will usually get on the telcast somewhere.
      
      Reply Report comment
- Rich
  
  Jul 21, 2014 at 4:29 am
  
  Seriously? You’re still going on about the Saturday tee times? Get over it. The conditions were the same for everyone and he still had to hit all the shots. And he did. He hit the ball less times in 4 rounds than anyone else so that means he wins. That’s all there is to it.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Straightdriver235
    
    Jul 21, 2014 at 1:37 pm
    
    That’s precisely the point, conditions would have been worse for McAvoy, as they were supposed to be… not artificially equalized by a biased committee; that’s links golf and the British Open, which this was not, well, precisely.
    
    Reply Report comment
    - Rich
      
      Jul 21, 2014 at 6:44 pm
      
      Not one player, official, journalist or spectator (except you) have come to the same conclusion about the decision to go with earlier tee times on Saturday. I think you’re a little paranoid.
      
      Reply Report comment
  - Fred
    
    Jul 21, 2014 at 10:54 pm
    
    What Rory (Mcllroy) was doing on the course was far more interesting to watch that many of the other players, which is probably why the network stuck with him for much of the time. By the way, if you look at the leader board at the end of the day, you had Fowler, Garcia, Furyk, and Scott… some of the top players in the world, right behind Rory. I thought it was one of the best Opens I’d seen in a long time – except for Phil’s win last year, of course. And for once, no no-name came out on top.
    
    Reply Report comment
Beat it

Jul 20, 2014 at 4:04 pm

Here’s to many more and to beating Woods’ record!

Reply Report comment
MHendon

Jul 20, 2014 at 3:59 pm

Best major of the year so far. I was torn between who I wanted to win, Rory or Sergio.

Reply Report comment
Ronald Montesano

Jul 20, 2014 at 3:50 pm

Nicely written, Tim.

Reply Report comment
Christosterone

Jul 20, 2014 at 3:46 pm

Couldnt be happier for a seemingly nice guy. Amazing bursts of greatness in McIlroy.
I was also pleased to watch Sergio exercise a few Sunday demons from his last go-round at Hoylake.

Reply Report comment
- Ponjo
  
  Jul 21, 2014 at 3:41 am
  
  Thought the Open Championship made a good call as the forecast was terrible. Play would have been suspended anyway as an inch of rain fell in an hour plus hail and thunder and lightning.
  
  Would love to know what happens to DJ when he gets close to the lead in a major on the final day.
  
  Reply Report comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage

Published

2 days ago

Apr 16, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site this week at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage. Plenty of golfers who competed in the Masters last week will be making the quick turnaround in the Lowcountry of South Carolina as the Heritage is again one of the Tour’s Signature Events.

We have general albums for you to check out, as well as plenty of WITBs — including Justin Thomas and Justin Rose.

We’ll continue to update as more photos flow in from SC.

Check out links to all our photos, below.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.

Your Reaction?

LIKE9
LEGIT0
WOW0
LOL2
IDHT0
FLOP1
OB0
SHANK0

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2024 Valero Texas Open

Published

2 weeks ago

Apr 1, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site this week at the Valero Texas Open.

The event has been around since 1922, making it one of the oldest on the PGA Tour calendar. Over the years, it’s been held at a variety of courses across the Lone Star State, but it’s found its home at TPC San Antonio in recent years. Some of the biggest names in golf have taken home the title here, including Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, and Ben Crenshaw.

GolfWRX has its usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs and special pull-out albums. As always, we’ll continue to update the links below as more photos come in from TPC San Antonio.