Two-time Wells Fargo Championship winner Rory McIlroy survived a wayward tee shot on the 72nd hole and managed to make a bogey that enabled him to win for the third time in the event, defeating late-charging Abraham Ancer by a shot. McIlroy stood on the tee at the 18th hole, the toughest on the PGA Tour, with a two-shot lead over Ancer to break his second-longest career victory drought on Tour.
His drive found the penalty area to the left of the fairway but not in the creek that meanders through the rough all the way to the green on the long par four, the end of the famed Green Mile at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. After much deliberation, McIlroy decided to take a drop, resulting in a one-shot penalty but hit the green and two-putted for the victory.
The 32 year old broke through with a win for the first time in a year and a half, collecting his 19th PGA Tour title at the site of his first Tour win in 2010. He also won the 2015 Wells Fargo and now heads to the PGA Championship at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, where he dominated the field by eight shots in 2012.
The four-time major champion had been struggling with his game and came into the week with +1800 odds to grab his first win as a father.
McIlroy won $1,458,000 and picked up 500 FedEx Cup points with victory, moving up to 17th in the standings with the top 125 making the playoffs and the top 30 moving on to the Tour Championship to complete the season. The four-time major champion had been struggling with his game and came into the week with +1800 odds to grab his first win as a father.
The Favorites’ Performances
The favorite coming into the tournament at +800 was Justin Thomas, but his putter let him down for most of the week, and the second-ranked player in the world ended up in a tie for 26th with an even-par score of 284. Jon Rahm, ranked third in the world with odds of +900, imploded down the stretch on Friday’s second round and ended up missing the cut.
Other than McIlroy’s victory, Bryson DeChambeau, at +1400 odds, provided the story of the week, believing he had missed the cut after a triple-bogey eight on the seventh hole, his sixteenth of the day, resulted in a three-over-par 74 and a tournament total of two over par. When he completed play on Friday, he was in 90th place and caught a flight back to Dallas, only to find out in the air that the cut had moved to two over par.
After a brief stop at home for a workout and dinner, he headed back to Charlotte at 2:45 a.m. on Saturday and shot a three-under par 68, which he duplicated on Sunday to finish in a tie for ninth place, moving him ahead of Justin Thomas to lead the FedEx Cup standings. Fifty-year-old Phil Mickelson also provided some excitement, shooting a seven-under-par 64 to lead after the first round, only to shoot 75-76-76 the rest of the way and finish in 69th place at seven-over par.
