Rory McIlroy, perpetually plagued by heartbreaks, was the one breaking hearts this time around with his dramatic victory at the 2023 Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club. Making birdie on his final two holes, the four-time major champion surpassed Scotland's native son Robert MacIntyre for a one-stroke victory at 15 under on Sunday.
"This is right up there with the best of them," said McIlroy. "After missing the short birdie putt on 16, I thought if I could birdie one of the last two I would get into a playoff, and that would be a bonus, but to finish 2-3 in these conditions. The two iron shots that I hit — the 5-iron into 17 and the 2-iron into the last are probably two of the best shots I have hit all year, and to finish them off with the putts as well.
"It feels absolutely amazing. I've had a few close calls recently so to get over the line and get this bit of confidence going into next week and the rest of the season is huge."
McIlroy began the day with his 19th 54-hole lead of his PGA Tour career and his third of this season. However, four front-nine bogeys saw him drop from the pace position as Englishman Tyrrell Hatton made his presence known while playing partners Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Kim persisted.
It wouldn't be any of the three mentioned who proved to be McIlroy's biggest adversary, rather it was MacIntyre.
Three holes separated McIlroy and MacIntyre on the golf course, but the punches were thrown and felt by both. MacIntyre came with a flurry of haymakers with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 14-15 to leapfrog McIlroy and command the lead by himself. In the blink of an eye, MacIntyre's lead grew to two and shrank to zero as an ill-advised bogey on the par-5 16th was met with a birdie bomb from McIlroy on the 14th.
This back-and-forth nature brought an intensity to the Scottish coast as its native son attempted to take down the man in possession of seemingly every other nation's open.
After making par on 17, MacIntyre flared his drive left of the fairway on the difficult par-4 finisher. Despite going offline, MacIntyre's tee shot would find a cut-off area with no fescue with which to deal. Receiving a break is one thing, but taking advantage of it is a whole different deal, and MacIntyre delivered. From outside 210 yards, he carved a fairway wood from right to left back into the fan. His ball would settle inside 4 feet and set up what appeared to be one last deciding blow.
The clubhouse lead was set at 14 under, but McIlroy still had time to spare. After missing a short birdie bid on the par-5 16th, he struck his best approach into a par 3 of the day when his 5-iron settled inside five feet. He would convert and head to the difficult last, which was playing +0.65 strokes over par, needing a par for a playoff and a birdie for victory.
With 2-iron in hand, McIlroy laced his second into the gauntlet green, only getting slightly higher than the grandstands on approach. Unaffected by the fan, McIlroy's ball settled inside 10 feet and set up the deciding moment of the championship. Once his birdie bid slipped in the side, McIlroy walked through the door to the winner's circle with a laugh escaping his system in the process.
The triumph marks McIlroy's first career victory in Scotland and adds to his collection of national opens that already included the United States, the British, the Canadian, the Irish and the Australian. More importantly, however, it sets the stage for his return to Royal Liverpool at Hoylake for the 151st Open Championship -- the site where he raised the Claret Jug nine years ago.
Pulling alongside Dustin Johnson and Gary Player in terms of career PGA Tour victories with 24, McIlroy's back-nine charge on a blustery Scottish day provided something we haven't seen from the 34-year-old in quite some time: senses of tenacity and will that he will not lose this tournament no matter the heroics from MacIntyre, who carded the round of the day with a near-flawless 64 and set the clubhouse pace.
McIlroy did not have his best stuff around the par 70 Sunday, but it was enough to win for the third time in his career the week before a major championship; the prior two resulted in a victory and a top-five finish. Perhaps it will be enough to propel him to further greatness as the final major championship of the season looms ahead this coming week. Grade: A+
Rick Gehman is joined by Kyle Porter, Greg DuCharme and Patrick McDonald to break down Round 4 of the Genesis Scottish Open. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Here is the breakdown of the rest of the leaderboard at the 2023 Scottish Open.
2. Robert MacIntyre (-14): A win would have done wonders for the 26-year-old with a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and Ryder Cup considerations on the line. He is still likely to be featured on the European side after this performance considering his form and win at Marco Simone, but this one will sting. It was no fault of his own as his final-round 64 clipped the field average by eight strokes as he rode his home nation's applause to near-victory. The shot into 18 will still reside in Scottish golf lore, but if MacIntyre had to have a single moment back, it may be the par-5 16th where he inexcusably made bogey. Grade: A+
T3. Scottie Scheffler (-10): Stop me if you've heard this, but Scheffler finished in the top five from tee to green and did not win the tournament. Here are his tee-to-green tournament rankings in his last 11 events. Bay Hill: 2nd Players: 1st Masters: 2nd Heritage: 5th Nelson: 2nd PGA: 1st Colonial: 1st Memorial: 1st U.S. Open: 3rd Travelers: 2nd Scottish Open: 1st. Only one of them was a win. One storyline next week at the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool will be whether Scheffler can finally cash in his outrageously good ball-striking this year with a win at one of the four most important events of the season. Grade: A-
T6. Tommy Fleetwood (-9): Fleetwood did not have the goods on Sunday when he needed them after shooting 63 on Saturday in the third round. However, I'm undeterred by what that means for his Open chances at Hoylake next weekend as this was his third top 10 in his last four starts (including the U.S. Open). He should absolutely be a player in how next week's event unfolds. Fleetwood's approach play was pretty average (for him) at the Scottish Open, but if you look at what are traditionally the toughest ball-striking tests of the year — U.S. Open, Players Championship — they align with where Fleetwood's iron play has been the best so far this year. It's all coming together for what could be the week of his life. Grade: B+
T42. Padraig Harrington (-3): Two-time Open champ, Harrington, had a bad Sunday and played his way out of what could have been a top 20 or even top-10 finish. Why does this matter for a 51-year-old man who has won once on the PGA Tour since 2008? Well, Harrington is currently lurking around the bottom of the European Ryder Cup standings. If you presume that no LIV golfers will be involved on the European side, Harrington is currently inside the top 20 in the Data Golf rankings for all Europeans. A great showing here would have helped. Still, a good performance at The Open after making the cut at both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open, and it wouldn't be inconceivable that he could be in the mix for that final spot in Rome. Grade: B-