There are presently two types of golfers in the world.
Rory McIlroy and everybody else. In his first action since winning the Open Championship, McIlroy shot his second straight 66 on Sunday to slip past Sergio Garcia and win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by two strokes with a 15-under 265.
With the victory, and the fact that Adam Scott did not finish in the Top 5, McIlroy is back to the No. 1 spot in the world golf rankings.
McIlroy made his move early, birdying the first three holes and four of the first five. He was 3-under at the turn and added a birdie on No. 11.
Playing with a 3-stroke lead to start the day, Garcia lost it on the third hole when he committed a bogey while McIlroy was recording his third straight birdie.
McIlroy made it a two-stroke lead when he birdied No. 5, but Garcia got back within one stroke when he birdied No. 9 after McIlroy had bogeyed No. 8.
McIlroy got one stroke back when he birdied No. 11, and all but sealed the win as Garcia bogeyed No. 15.
Australia’s Marc Leishman, the Day One leader, wound up third at 12-under with a 67 on Sunday. His day was doomed when he hit into the rough on No. 14 and took a bogey.
The three above were the only men to finish more than 10 strokes under par. Charl Schwartzel, Patrick Reed, Keegan Bradley and Justin Rose finished tied for fourth at 9-under.
The eye-opener from outside the Top 10 came from Phil Mickelson, who fired a final-round 62 to jump up to a tie for 15th. Mickelson had been battling strep throat all weekend and was 3-over entering the day.
He had 10 birdies, including three in a row on 15-17 to end up tied with Hunter Mahan, Jim Furyk and Thomas Bjorn.
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