Rory McIlroy wins his 26th PGA Tour event at Wells Fargo Championship
Rory McIlroy -11 played in Sunday’s final group with 54 hole -12 leader Xander Schauffele. Northern Irishman took advantage of a 344 yard drive and Schauffele had company at the top of leaderboard due to an opening birdie by McIlroy. Three-time Wells Fargo Championship winner tee shot at the par three fourth hole ended up in a greenside bunker which resulted in McIlroy’s first bogey in 40 holes and Schauffele was leader again on -12. The third one shot swing of Sunday’s round happened at the par three sixth hole due to Schauffele’s first three putt of 2024 Wells Fargo Championship whereas McIlroy managed to escape with a par. It was becoming match play between the two 2023 Ryder Cup players especially with an eagle from Schauffele at seven to reach -13 and a two-shot lead over McIlroy.
The biggest moment of the front nine took place at reachable par four eight with McIlroy holing his birdie putt whereas Schauffele could only manage a par. Four-time major champion seized the initiative as he finished the front nine with a birdie and were both level on -13 heading to 10th tee. Another massive moment of Sunday’s round took place at 10th hole as Schauffele was closer to the pin but McIlroy held an amazing eagle putt to become leader on -15. At the 12th hole 2021 Olympic Gold Medallist had 130 yards for his second shot resulting in a bogey and dropped two shots behind McIlroy.
The Northern Irishman put one hand on the trophy with birdies at 13 and 14 to reach -17. The Northern Irishman could enjoy Green Mile especially after holing his third shot for eagle at 15 to reach -19 and six ahead of Schauffele -13 with just three holes to play. McIlroy tapped in a short-range putt to sign for a round of 65 and win his fourth Wells Fargo Championship. Northern Irishman earned $3.6 million and is only the second golfer to win multiple PGA Tour events in 2024. Four-time major champion is in great form heading to the PGA Championship and back to Valhalla a venue where he won his last major 10 years ago.
Schauffele shot a round of level par, finished runner-up to McIlroy and earned $2.2 million. Byeong-hun An was best of the rest finishing third due to a remarkable round of 66 and earned $1.4 million. 2018 Wells Fargo Championship winner Jason Day & Sung-jae Im both finished tied fourth -6 and earned $880,000. Denny McCarthy & Mackenzie Hughes both finished -5and earned $695,000. Sepp Straka and Max Homa make up the top 10 in a tie for eight on -4. Seamus Power shot a under par round to finish tied 16th on -1 whereas fellow Irishman Shane Lowry had a week to forget tied 47th.
At the Champions Tour major Regions Tradition Padraig Harrington -12 shot rounds of 65, 70,69 and started Sunday one shot behind joint leaders Ernie Els & Doug Barron. Harrington shot a disappointing round of 74, finished tied eight and the tournament was won by -17 Barron. Leona Maguire participated in LPGA Tour Cognizant Founders Cup and started Sunday -3 due to rounds of 66, 76,71. Maguire had a sensational back nine of 30 to finish tied 12th on -6 but 18 shots behind winner Rose Zhang.