As they wake up Monday morning, much of the island of Ireland, from North to South, is smiling. That’s because on Sunday evening the greatest athlete Northern Ireland has ever produced, Rory McIlroy, pulled off one of his greatest performances, just two hours from his hometown.
The pride of Holywood drained a long eagle putt on the 72nd hole of the Irish Open to force a playoff in dramatic style, sending the raucous Irish crowd into a frenzy.
But it was another putt of McIlroy’s on Sunday, stupefying in its own right, that proved just as essential to his victory: a 360-degree lip out, then in, that gave him the lead late in the final round.
McIlroy drains 360-degree lip-in for Irish Open lead
Despite shooting a bogey-free 68 on Saturday, McIlroy was admittedly feeling frustrated on the eve of the final round. He was four shots back heading into Sunday.
But at that point, McIlroy had already given the Irish fans at The K Club more than they could have asked for. First, he showed up and played, which he didn’t have to do. Second, he’d provided plenty of fireworks for his faithful fans through three rounds and left them dreaming of a comeback win Saturday night.
Little did he or they know that McIlroy would go out and pull it off on Sunday. And when Rory opened the final round with a bogey, it seemed the magic had run out.
Then the five-time major champion flipped a switch. He birdied the second, then added three more red numbers on the front nine to shoot 32. A win was in his grasp.
By the time he reached the par-4 13th hole, he was in a four-way tie for the lead with Rafa Cabrera Bello, Angel Hidalgo and Joakim Lagergren. And seemingly every fan in attendance was following his every move.
At 13, Rory blasted a drive into the fairway, then facing a hole cut in the front right just steps from a pond guarding that side of the green, he stuck his approach shot to six feet.
The anxious spectators gathered around 13 green knew McIlroy needed only to hole this straightforward short putt to take the solo lead with five holes to play.
The result was anything but straightforward. As the ball left McIlroy’s putter face, it rolled straight and true toward the hole. Then, just inches from the cup, it started tailing to the left.
Rory’s ball caught the left edge of the cup with some pace, then lipped right and fully around the cup. At that moment, Rory’s ball seemed to pop off the lip and come to a rest on the edge of the hole. But after freezing for a moment, it dropped in.
McIlroy could only stare at the hole in disbelief as the crowd erupted and the TV announcers commented “Stop it!” and “A little McIlroy magic there at 13!”
The wild birdie putt at 13 gave McIlroy a one-shot lead at 15 under. But the drama, and the tournament, was far from over.
Rory’s magical eagle on 18 to force playoff
McIlroy followed his birdie with four-straight pars on 14-17. Normally that would be a good thing for someone playing the final holes with the lead. Unfortunately for McIlroy, one of his competitors wasn’t ready to hand him the trophy just yet.
Lagergren, ranked 194th in the Official World Golf Ranking to start the week, eagled the par-5 16th hole to steal the lead from McIlroy. Then he added a birdie at 18 to push his lead to two shots.
The Swedish pro had come out of nowhere to ruin Rory’s homecoming party. Standing on the par-5 18th tee down by two, McIlroy knew he needed some more magic to complete the storybook ending.
And, as you probably have already heard, he found it. At 18, McIlroy hit a perfect 340-yard drive, then knocked his approach on the green to set up a 27-foot eagle to tie the lead.
With the pressure of two golf-mad countries on his shoulders, McIlroy drained the putt causing the fans around the green to break decibel meters.
On the third playoff hole, McIlroy finished off the high-wire act with a birdie for his fourth victory of the season.
