Rory McIlroy won his second consecutive PGA Tour title after winning the Wells Fargo Championship for the fourth time in his career at Quail Hollow Golf & Country Club.
Rory McIlroy won the Wells Fargo Championship for the fourth time in his career, two weeks after winning the Zurich Classic with Shane Lowry.
McIlroy entered the final round at Quail Hollow one shot behind leader Xander Schauffele, but showed exactly why he is a four-time champion on the North Carolina course on Sunday.
The Northern Irishman shot an impressive under-par 65 in the final round to beat Schauffele by seven strokes.
The 35-year-old got off to a strong start in the final round, hitting the first green with a perfect approach for birdie and moving to the top of the Wells Fargo leaderboard along with Schauffele. Immediately, he returned to one when he followed the two parks in the fourth parties and terrible scary. However, yo -yo continued when Shafele switched to the sixth leadership and made his own scarecrow with three bundles in six. But then it was a perfect reaction, with the American making a stunning eagle putt on the par-5 seventh, making McIlroy par and regaining the lead by two.
However, with McIlroy’s return after just three holes, that two-stroke lead disappeared. The Northern Irishman got off to a good start with back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes. He then hit the green in two on the par-5 10th. With 33 feet to go from eagle, the world No. 2 stepped up and evened things up with a birdie from Schaufel. However, McIlroy was just getting started and his opponent started drifting from the top. The European made two pars and two birdies on the next hole, but it proved too much for Schauffele.
The putter remained cold for the American during the back nine, and his hopes were all but ended with bogeys on the 12th and 13th holes. Within an hour, McIlroy had moved from second place to fifth place and was able to clear the notoriously difficult Green Mile finish at Quail Hollow.
McIlroy’s final moment came well before his famous finish, but what a moment it was.
The Northern Irishman found a front bunker on his second shot, the par-5 15th, and did everything he could to hit it out of the sand, eagle six over Schaufel for birdie.
McIlroy finished with two pars on the 16th and 17th holes, and despite falling into the water on the 18th hole and making two bogeys, he comfortably won by five strokes. The win came just days after McIlroy’s allies chose to reject his request to return to the PGA Tour’s political council.
After being at the center of off-course politics at LIV Golf, the Wells Fargo champion decided to step down as player director in November.
As peace negotiations with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) continued, McIlroy expressed interest in returning, but was ultimately turned down by Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth.
For now, there is no doubt that his focus will remain intact heading into next week’s PGA Championship.
McIlroy is aiming to win his first major title in 10 years and will no doubt be looking forward to his chance after consecutive wins. He also returned to the venue where he won his last major title in 2014, and this year the tournament returned to Walhalla, where he defeated the Northern Irishman by just one stroke for the first time in 10 years.
