McIlroy cruises to another dominating win in Wells Fargo Championship

Comparing his 11^th PGA Tour win in the Wells Fargo Championship to his maiden PGA Tour victory at Quail Hollow Club in 2010, Rory McIlroy used a term that those at the course on Sunday could attest to.

“Sort of boring,” McIlroy said.

McIlroy’s course-record 61 Saturday allowed the 3-under-par 69 he shot Sunday to take most of the drama out of the final round.

McIlroy set a new scoring record in the 13-year tournament by five strokes with a 21-under 267 and the world’s top-ranked player cruised to yet another impressive blowout win with a tournament-record seven-shot margin over runners-up Webb Simpson and Patrick Rodgers.

“Boring in terms of there wasn't as much excitement on the back nine,” McIlroy was quick to explain. “It was more controlled. I took command of the tournament yesterday and then I just needed to play a solid round of golf today.

“Usually somewhere between 12- and 15-under gets the job done here. If it wasn't for what I did this week that would have been the case again.”

The win is McIlroy’s second in three weeks on the PGA Tour and third overall this year, as he won the WGC-Cadillac Match Play two weeks ago and European Tour’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic on Feb. 1.

“He kind of has that deal with Tiger [Woods], when Tiger was at the top. He just is a little bit better than everybody,” said Will MacKenzie, who played with McIlroy in Saturday’s third round.

The seven-shot victory is the second largest in McIlroy’s career. He won both the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA Championship by eight strokes each. McIlroy won the 2010 Wells Fargo by four shots with a closing 62.

“I feel like the more times I get in that position where I go out with leads like this … I've learned how to handle these positions and I'm finishing the job off the way I should, which is very pleasing,” McIlroy said.

McIlroy began the final round with a four-shot lead over Quail Hollow resident and member Webb Simpson and no other player was closer than seven shots.

The closest anyone got was three strokes after two holes. Though Simpson bogeyed the first hole, he holed a putt from off the green for a birdie on the second hole and McIlroy three-putted for the first time in 166 holes for a bogey.

But Simpson bogeyed the third hole and after he three-putted from 4 feet on the sixth hole for a double bogey he never challenged, shooting an even-par 72 Sunday.

“I knew I would have to come out with something low today and certainly par wasn't going to get it done,” Simpson said. “I hit some loose shots early. Through six [holes] I made so many mistakes, probably more mistakes than I had all week. That was kind of a killer to be a couple over through 6 with Rory playing pretty solid. … I didn’t have it today.”

McIlroy’s bogey on the second hole was the first blemish on his scorecards since a double bogey on the 17^th hole in Thursday’s opening round. He had made 16 birdies in 38 holes since then, and finished with 21 birdies and two bogeys over his final 55 holes.

McIlroy birdied holes 5, 7, 12, 14 and 16 Sunday before making a conservative bogey on the 17^th.

He has played 19 consecutive PGA Tour rounds at par or better, and before turning 26 on May 5 he earned his 10^th PGA Tour win, allowing him to join Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players in the past 75 years to reach double digits in tour wins at age 25.

Seeing 21-year-old Jordan Spieth win the Masters – where McIlroy had a chance to complete the career Grand Slam – and talk about catching him for the world No. 1 ranking, and another young star, Rickie Fowler, win last week’s Players Championship with a spectacular finish has motivated McIlroy.

“It does push me,” McIlroy admitted, “when you see guys that you know well, guys that are your peers and they're winning golf tournaments, big golf tournaments, golf tournaments that you want to win.

“I feel like I’m the best player in the world and I want to go at it every week and not so much prove it but just show that.”

McIlroy has now converted 54-hole leads on the PGA Tour into victories in six of his nine opportunities, with the exceptions being runner-up finishes in the 2014 Tour Championship and 2014 Honda Classic, where he lost in a playoff, and a tie for 15^th in the 2011 Masters.

McIlroy reflected on how he is different and improved now compared to 2010 when he recorded his first PGA Tour win at Quail Hollow.

“Mentally I'm so much better,” he said. “I'm staying patient, not being afraid to go low, my mindset or my demeanor doesn't change no matter what situation I'm in at a tournament or on the golf course. I think that's the big difference.

“Five years of experience, five years of being out here, competing, winning majors, losing majors, you know, that's the thing that really is the difference between who I am now and who I was five years ago.”

McIlroy now heads to Europe for a pair of tournaments in the next two weeks and returns to the states for the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in Washington state.

“It's just a great momentum builder going into the thick of the season,” McIlroy said. “I’ve still got three majors coming up, a lot of things to play for, a lot of golf to play and I don't feel like my game has ever been in better shape so I’m excited for the next few months.”

This story was originally published May 17, 2015 at 8:59 PM with the headline "McIlroy cruises to another dominating win in Wells Fargo Championship."