PEBBLE BEACH – What began Thursday with an opening-round hole-in-one ended Sunday with Rory McIlroy’s first AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am championship.
A crystal trophy, a $3.6 million paycheck, and the 18th hole’s flag certainly suffice as McIlroy’s keepsakes for a two-stroke win over close pal Shane Lowry.
As for that Taylor Made TP5 ball he holed Thursday morning at Spyglass Hill’s 15th hole, “I gave it away,” McIlroy said. “I’m not really sentimental.”
It was a good omen for what was to come in his PGA Tour season debut. After all, two years ago, Justin Rose also hit a hole-in-one en route to victory here.
This was McIlory’s 27th career PGA Tour win, and he indeed took it as an encouraging sign that his all-around game could snap a decade-long pursuit of his fifth major win.
“The trophies I keep, and the flags from the 18th green. They’re important,” McIlroy, 35, said of his mementos, all while happily smiling commemorative tournament flags in the media room overlooking The Lodge.
His hole-on-one golf balls, however, are not highly regarded. He simply doesn’t hold onto them. He’s hit 12 in his life, including two on the PGA Tour, one on the European Tour, and two back in junior tournaments. The first came down the coast in San Diego at Presidio Hills at age 9, and the second came at Woburn Golf Club in England at age 12.
“It’s funny, I go into some guys’ houses and they’ve kept everything,” McIlroy said. “Like I go into (Ian) Poulter’s house and it’s, ‘This is the ball I won this match of the Ryder Cup with.’ Then I’m, ‘Should I keep more stuff?’ It seems like it is too much effort.”
An eagle, like Thursday’s ace at Spyglass’ par-3 15th hole, is how McIlroy literally and figuratively distanced himself Sunday.
That effort came on Pebble Beach’s par-5, dogleg-right 14th hole. He stepped onto that tee with a 2-shot lead — over Lowry, Tom Kim and Lucas Glover – and unleashed a skyscraping, 339-yard drive at 189 mph. He subsequently drained a 26 ½-foot eagle putt and stretched his lead to four strokes, with four holes remaining.
“When I was making birdies, he was throwing birdies back,” Lowry said, “and then he made eagle at 14, that was done and dust.”
With four holes remaining in last year’s U.S. Open, McIlroy owned a two-shot lead, only to bogey three ensuing holes and lose out to Bryson DeChambeau at Pinehurst. That loss hurt more than any other last year, McIlroy recalled Sunday.
He did win at Pebble Beach last year, albeit in the pro-am portion with partner Jeff Rhodes, and that shrouded McIlroy’s 66th-place finish among the pros.
McIlroy bogeyed only one of his final 36 holes, after finishing off Friday’s Pebble Beach loop with an eagle on 18. He shot a bogey-free 65 in Saturday’s wet and windy conditions, then carded a 6-under 66 Sunday, including a 10th-hole, 18-foot birdie putt that put him alone in the lead, for good. Another birdie came at No. 12, then came the eagle at No. 14, before a birdie at No. 15.
And, yet, Lowry threatened for a dramatic finish. After McIlroy’s tapped in for par on No. 17, Lowry barely missed an 8-foot birdie putt, keeping McIlory’s lead at three entering the 72nd hole.
“Had I holed that, you stand with honors on 18 (tee), and then you hit a good tee shot there, and you might make him think he might have to hit the driver,” Lowery said. “But I missed that putt, and my tee shot on 18 (into the rough) pretty much made his mind up.”
A 5-minute wait on that final tee box had McIlory pondering his options.
“I hit 5-iron off the tee and I start to think to myself, ‘Can I hit 5-iron in water? Should I shoot a 6, a 7?’ ” McIlroy said. “It was nice to honestly stand there and look at one of the most beautiful holes in golf an enjoy it, and enjoy a stroll up at 18 and not have pressure.”
McIlroy bombed his driver all week to a field-best 336.7 yards. Yet, for his grand finale, he pulled out a 5-iron on the tee, then hit two more iron shots off the fairway en route to a stressless, trophy-clinching par. His only concern on that final hole: whether Lowry would finish alone in second via a birdie finish, which indeed ensued.
“The way he was playing today, I certainly wasn’t good enough to beat him,” Lowry said. “I got a lot out of my game today and that’s as good as a score as I could have shot.”
McIlroy credited his ability not to get flustered with himself and to strategically work his way around an iconic course where Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and Tiger Woods have won the U.S. Open.
“There’s some venues in our game that just mean a little more than others and that probably has to do with history and the people who’ve won on the courses and what they’ve meant to the game of golf,” McIlroy said.
“… To be able to win on one of those iconic venues is awesome. It’s a very different test this week than what you’d expect at a U.S. Open, so you’ve got to take that with a pinch of salt, but I feel my game can travel to any course in any condition.”
As McIlroy answered questions in the media room, his crystal trophy blocked his view of reporters, so he took command like he’d done all day on the course.
McIlroy, in deadpan fashion, said: “Sorry, I’m going to move this. I hate when my trophies get in the way.”