Rory McIlroy has promised a surprise when he hosts Tuesday night’s past PGA Championship winner’s dinner at the Oak Hill club in upper New York State.
It is also customary for the immediate past champion to present a ‘homeland’ gift at the dinner to the PGA of America but the defending champion would not reveal the item after finishing among the top-30 in the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.
While McIlroy’s ‘gift’ remained hush, hush his on-course adventures continued predictably with the current World No. 3 bogeying his last hole on the Firestone course for a fourth day running.
Minutes earlier McIlroy showed glimpses of last year’s PGA Championship winning form when he birdied the 16th and 17th holes on route to a last day 72 for a two over par tally.
Rory McIlroy starts out on his final round in the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational. (Photo – Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
On the plus side, McIlroy managed to hit more fairways on day four then any other day, albeit by one with nine of 14 fairways for an overall tally of 26 of 56 fairways over the course of the event.
“I thought I struck the ball a bit better today than I did the previous three days which was great and a good sign,” he said.
“I didn’t score that well the first day and didn’t hit it that well the middle two rounds but actually my short game was good so I could keep myself around par while today I played nicely with just a couple of bad holes over the back nine.
“So it was okay and my game is definitely going in the right direction.”
After clearing out his Firestone locker, McIlroy was headed by private jet north to Rochester and Thursday’s start to his defence of the last Major of the year.
Travelling in another private jet was Graeme McDowell and Shane Lowry with McDowell signing off for a 72 after three earlier rounds of 71 for a four over par total and a share of 40th.
McDowell had birdied his opening two holes but then dropped five shots in six holes from the fourth.
“I used the four effectively and that was the most important thing for me this week,” he said.
“I worked hard on my game and really felt the swing bedding in as the week went on yet my scoring didn’t really reflect that as I had three to four holes every day where I played myself out of shooting a good score.
“But generally my ball-striking improved as the days went on while my irons were also a lot better.
“I still have a few things to work when I get to Oak Hill but the key for me this week was getting my golf swing back and I feel like I’ve done that well.”
And Shane Lowry was just itching to get to just his second PGA Championship after he birdied three holes in succession starting with a chip-in at the 15th and then just missed a fourth birdie in a row at the last in a score of 69 and his best round of the week.
It handed Lowry a top-50 finish at seven over par.
“It was a grand finish and I only just missed four in a row there on the last,” said Lowry.
“I played good again today and to shoot one under around here on this golf course is not too bad.
“My golf is as good as it has been for a while and while people may see that I finished seven over par that does not do justice to how well I ground it out this past week.
“So I’m now looking forward to Oak Hill and I’ll probably play nine holes tomorrow (Mond) afternoon and see what it’s like.
“I’m then playing nine holes with Paul McGinley on Tuesday morning.
