Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland holds up the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, August 10, 2014. (Reuters)
DPA/Washington
When Rory McIlroy lifted the PGA Championship Wanamaker Trophy for the second time in two years Sunday - signaling his fourth major victory by age 25 - he was already thinking about his place in the game’s history.
“I’m on the same par now as Ernie Els, Ray Floyd, one behind Seve (Ballesteros), one behind Phil (Mickelson),” the world number one said.
“I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d get here this quickly.”
For the record, McIlroy has now won the US Open (2011), the PGA (2012, 2014) and the Open (2014). He won back-to-back majors over a span of just three weeks, with another victory at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in between.
At this year’s PGA, he shot a total score of 268, 16-under over 72 holes, having to claw back from behind on the final day.
“I thought I’d elevated myself after winning the Open,” he said Sunday as night fell on the Valhalla Golf Club.
“And then winning the PGA again and to have my fourth major by the age of 25 - it sort of elevated me to a whole new level.”
McIlroy joins Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods among the elite pantheon of players to have won four majors before age 25.
And he certainly appears to be the shining star of his generation.
In the final round Sunday McIlroy had to fight tooth and nail to prevail over both a contemporary - 25-year-old Rickie Fowler was in contention until the end - as well as veterans Phil Mickelson (44) and Henrik Stenson (38).
McIlroy got into early trouble Sunday, hitting two bogeys and falling from atop the leaderboard before he scored his first birdie at hole 7. He then sank an eagle on the par-5 hole 10 and went on to hole another two birdies at 13 and 17.
“It is the most satisfying,” McIlroy said. “To win it in this fashion and this style, it means a lot. 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.”
“I didn’t get off to the best of starts, and the guys came at me pretty quickly and we were talking on the front nine and I just couldn’t really get anything going,” McIlroy said.
“So I needed to sort of stay patient and just sort of bide my time and wait for something to click, something to happen and that something happened on the 10th hole. To make eagle there was a big turning point in the tournament, and from there, I kicked on and played some great golf down the stretch.”
Though they all held the lead at various points during a tumultuous final round, Mickelson finished at 15-under, while Fowler and Henrik were tied two shots off the lead at 14-under.
Woods, now 38, hasn’t won a major in half a dozen years, and his career major victory total stands at 14, four shy of Nicklaus.
His performance at Vahalla did not inspire confidence, as he missed the cut in a major for only the fourth time in his career, finishing 6-over par.
One of McIlroy’s fellow countrymen remarked upon the similarity of the current wunderkind of golf and his predecessor in that role.
“It’s beginning to look a little Tiger-esque, I suppose,” fellow Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell, who finished tied for 47th at the PGA, told ESPN.
“I said to [reporters] at the Open, I didn’t think we were going to see the new Tiger era, as in someone creating their own kind of Tiger-esque era just yet. I guess you could say - I’m not eating my words, but I’m certainly starting to chew on them right now.
“He’ll win as many majors as he wants - within reason.”
Final leaderboard
Final leaderboard at the 96th PGA Championship being played at Valhalla Golf Club on Sunday (U.S. unless stated):
Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) -16
Phil Mickelson -15
Rickie Fowler -14
Henrik Stenson (Sweden) -14
Jim Furyk -12
Ryan Palmer -12
Jimmy Walker -11
Ernie Els (South Africa) -11
Victor Dubuisson (France) -11
Hunter Mahan -11
Steve Stricker -11
Mikko Ilonen (Finland) -11