HOYLAKE, ENGLAND // Rory McIlroy joined an elite list of golfers to have won three of the four major titles, but he had to battle all the way against Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler before bagging his first British Open title at Royal Liverpool on Sunday.
McIlroy joined Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to have won three majors at age 25.
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Moreover, among British players, only six-time major winner Nick Faldo has won more majors in the modern era.
The Northern Irishman, 25, closed with a 71 to finish 17 under, two strokes clear of Garcia, who closed with a 66, and Fowler, who shot 67.
“It feels incredible. Today wasn’t easy, a few guys were making runs at me, I needed to stay focused and concentrate,” McIlroy said.
“To win three legs of the four majors at 25 is a pretty good achievement – it is not going to sink in for a while.
“The lead never got less than two, so I always felt I had that little cushion. Coming into the back nine, I knew I had holes where I could make birdie.”
It was a memorable wire-to-wire win from McIlroy, who is the seventh player in Open history to lead after all four rounds, but the day was not without drama.
Starting with a whopping six-stroke lead, McIlroy confidently birdied the first, but back-to-back bogeys at Nos 5 and 6 halved the lead as Garcia emerged from the chasing pack.
But McIlroy birdied the 10th to keep his challengers at arm’s length and then stood firm down the back nine against Garcia and a late push by Fowler.
McIlroy’s third major title follows eight-stroke triumphs in the 2011 US Open and the 2012 US PGA Championship.
So impressive were McIlroy’s first three rounds of 66, 66 and 68 that few believed he was in any danger of repeating his collapse at the 2011 Masters, when he led by four strokes going into the final round, only to shoot 80.
But suddenly it changed after McIlroy’s back-to-back bogeys, followed shortly thereafter by an eagle from Garcia at the 10th.
The lead was back down to two and the Spaniard had a sniff of possibly finally winning a major title at age 34 after a long run of near misses.
But Garcia narrowly missed a birdie at the 11th, and playing behind him, McIlroy grabbed another birdie at No 10 to ease back into a three-shot lead.
Garcia saw his chances vanish when he took two shots to get out of a greenside pot bunker at the par-3 15th.
Garcia said: “Everyone looks at a second [place] and wants to make it a negative, but I did almost everything I could.”
The man from Holywood, outside Belfast, had a three-stroke lead with a hole to play and was able to enjoy a victory walk down the last
Garcia ranks second among active players in most major starts without a victory, with 62, trailing only Lee Westwood who has two more.
Fowler, 25, also was seeking a first major title, but never got close enough to worry to McIlroy, apart from playing in the final pairing with him.
“It was a battle for me, I didn’t hit my best, but I had to fight through it,” Fowler said.
“I made a late run, but got on the gas a little bit too late. Rory played very steady. He hit some great shots.”
Long before the leaders teed off, former world No 1 Tiger Woods stumbled in with a 75, which left him in 69th place, his worst 72-hole finish in a major championship. After finishing the first round in joint-10th place, he moved backward all weekend.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson was never in the hunt, either, closing with a 68 to finish joint-23rd.
Perhaps the day’s biggest rounds of applause went to 64-year-old five-time former Open winner Tom Watson who had a fine 68 and finished five shots ahead of Woods.
But the day deservedly belonged to McIlroy and the focus will now inevitably switch to Augusta National next April, when he will be in a position to become the sixth player to win all four major titles during their career.
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