Rory McIlroy said he felt ‘pretty encouraged’ by his efforts
Rory McIlroy took home a cheque for over a quarter of a million after a strong finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am on Sunday.
The Holywood man recorded his best score of the week with a blemish-free 64 to finish in a four-way tie for 14th place, pocketing £251,234 for his efforts.
McIlroy felt ‘pretty encouraged’ by his efforts at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am, which was won by Collin Morikawa, and his focus now switches to The Genesis Invitational later this week.
“That’s all I felt like I needed to tidy up, because the good stuff in there is really, really good,” he said. “Struck my irons well, drove it well for the most part. There was a couple of destructive tee shots yesterday [third round], but everything feels in pretty good shape.
“I wish I could have those four holes back this week. I played 68 really good ones and even you turn those three doubles into bogeys and that triple into a bogey, that’s five shots and all of a sudden you’re looking at a lead.
“All in all, some really good stuff this week and pretty encouraged going into next week for sure.”
McIlroy’s close pal Shane Lowry finished one shot ahead of him in a six-way tie for eighth place, earning £377,546 for doing so.
Meanwhile, world number one Scottie Scheffler fell just short in a thrilling final round, settling for his 18th consecutive top-10 finish.
The four-time major champion started the day trailing by eight strokes. Despite recording the first three-eagle round of his PGA Tour career and carding a 63, it wasn’t quite enough to clinch the win.
His impressive 20-under total was still two shots shy of Morikawa, who birdied the final hole for a 67. This last-minute surge allowed Morikawa to narrowly beat out Min Woo Lee, whose 65 put him in late contention, and Austria’s Sepp Straka (68) by a single stroke, securing his first victory in over two years.
Scheffler had an impressive start, seven under through seven holes and only two behind, but his momentum faltered at the eighth with the first of three bogeys. Despite consecutive birdies at the 10th and 11th holes, he couldn’t regain his earlier pace.
However, the American golfer can take solace in his consistent performance, having finished fourth or better in his last seven PGA Tour starts. This is a feat only matched twice in the past 40 years, both times by the legendary Tiger Woods.
“I had to do something special today to give myself a chance, I felt I needed to get to 21 or 22 under and played more aggressive than I normally do,” Scheffler admitted.
