Rory McIlroy achieved the oddest of career distinctions at the PGA Championship. It surely ranked as a modern major-championship first.
The popular Northern Irishman won his fourth major title while playing in a foursome.
As the sun dived below the horizon on Sunday night at Valhalla Golf Club, McIlroy had to be waved up by the penultimate group on the 72nd hole because, with daylight gone, it was fast becoming an exercise in golf by Braille.
By the time he returned to the 18th green for the prize-giving, the flashbulbs documenting the scene seemed like pyrotechnics, resembling the lightning strikes that were thundering in the distance.
The achievement itself required no extra illumination, however.
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Roaming in the gloaming, McIlroy had produced the most impressive victory of his career, blowing his overnight lead yet storming back from a three-stroke deficit on the back nine to win by a shot over Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson.
For the first time, he shot out the lights when he needed it most.
McIlroy, 25, won his first two majors by eight shots, wringing out any drama well before he teed it up in the final round. His victory three weeks earlier at the British Open was largely lacking in tension, too, since no player moved closer than two shots on Sunday.
This time, however, he added resilience and resolve to his repertoire. He had no choice, which is why it was easily the most impressive of his four majors to date.
“It is the most satisfying,” he said.
McIlroy took a punch in the nose, got off the floor and won the fight in the hometown of Muhammad Ali, Louisville, Kentucky. This win? The three perfunctory processional marches were nice, but this was The Greatest.
“To win it in this fashion and this style, it means a lot,” McIlroy said. “It means that I know that I can do it, I know that I can come from behind. I know that I can mix it up with the best players in the world down the stretch in a major and come out on top.
“Phil Mickelson, the second-best player of this generation, to be able to beat him on the back nine on a Sunday, it’s great to have in the memory bank and great to have in the locker going forward.”
It was not just the method by which McIlroy won, but the manner. Always a player who emotes and enjoys an exchange with the gallery, McIlroy turned stone-faced and steely eyed.
Having quickly blown his one-shot overnight edge, and with leaders Mickelson and Rickie Fowler playing in the group just ahead of him, McIlroy could see his chances slipping away. As he stood on the par-5 10th, he was three shots behind Fowler and facing an approach shot of 280 yards.
In what can only be described as kismet, McIlroy hit his worst shot of the back nine, at least technically. He caught his 3-wood shot off the heel of the club and yanked it well to the left, yet it rolled the last 50 yards onto the green and within 15 feet. He rolled in the putt for an eagle and became a changed man.
“It was lucky, it really was,” he said. “You need a little bit of luck in major championships to win and that was my lucky break. I didn’t hit a very good shot there, but it worked out well and I made eagle from it.
“You know, things can go your way and it seems like whenever you’re on a run of form like I am, things sort of fall your way.”
Not only has McIlroy won four times in the past 10 weeks, a harvest of top titles that includes the British Open three weeks ago, he became the third-youngest player to win four majors, behind Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus – the two most-decorated players in the game. Even for a decidedly humble kid, this is heady stuff that is hard to ignore.
“I try and put all this talk aside every time it comes up, but Tiger and Jack are two of the most successful players in our sport of all time,” McIlroy said, almost bashfully. “I’m on a nice path. I’ve still got a long way to go, but to be in their company at this age is very special.”
McIlroy shot 32 on the back nine and essentially sealed the title with a birdie putt in near-darkness on the 17th hole. It prompted a mad rush to finish, with McIlroy playing part of the 72nd hole alongside Mickelson and Fowler in an attempt to finish more quickly.
Having just triumphed in the Duel at Dusk, and with players like Mickelson and Woods metaphorically entering the twilight of their careers, McIlroy seems better-positioned than ever to captain the game’s ship of state. He already has as many majors to his credit as Ernie Els and Ray Floyd, two Hall of Famers.
As the klieg lights lit up the awards ceremony, his updated CV was brightest of all. McIlroy has won four majors in three years, including two in succession, and he will head to Augusta National in April trying to become the sixth player to win all four majors, a bid that has already been dubbed the Shamrock Slam.
“I was happy being a two‑time major championship coming into this year, and all of a sudden I’m a four‑time major champion and going for the career grand slam at Augusta in 292 days, 291 days or whatever it is,” he said, laughing. “Not that I’m counting.”
It is 240 days, actually. Fans are tracking the days, and the daylight, for certain.
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