Rory McIlroy wins the WGC-Bridgestone to become world number one golfer
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Rory McIlroy is just one person. There are more than seven billion people in the world. (No one knows exactly how many, because every time someone dies or a baby is born, which is quite often, you have to start counting all over again – it’s a right ball ache.)
Imagine being the absolute best at something, out of all seven billion or so people in the world. If you’re Rory McIlroy, having just won the WGC-Bridgestone by two shots to regain the world number one spot, you don’t have to imagine.
McIlroy went into yesterday’s final round three shots behind overnight leader Sergio Garcia. Garcia, lest we forget, was the man who tore the Firestone Country Club course a proverbial new one with a back-nine 27 on his way to a 61 on Friday. Had he been able to continue any of the form that saw him bag 11 consecutive one-putts, he might have been impossible to catch. Sadly for the Spaniard, he couldn’t, and he could.
In the space of the opening five holes, McIlroy had turned that three-shot deficit into a two-shot lead. There were a few subtle twists and turns in the story, but McIlroy, bombing it 60 yards past Garcia off the tee, never looked anything other than in control. McIlroy finished with a second successive 66 for a 15 under par total, while Garcia, who had made 16 birdies in the first three rounds, only managed one on his way to a disappointing 71, giving McIlroy a two-shot victory.
Of the 16 times Garcia has led going into a final round, he’s only closed it out on three occasions. Perhaps he went to the same finishing school as Jim Furyk?
With the Ryder Cup less than two months away, European captain Paul McGinley must be pleased to see four of his team among the world’s top five golfers. Alongside McIlroy and his current hot streak, Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose will be hoping to notch up more points than someone driving past a school at 100mph while eating a KitKat and chatting on the phone. Luckily for Garcia, there are no 72-hole matches at the Ryder Cup.
