Rory's Glory (21 page)

When he bogeyed the third hole after three-putting, he was joined at the top by no less than four other golfers on -12. He then bogeyed the sixth after finding the greenside bunker and although he got that shot back at the par-five seventh, he was overtaken at the top.

Henrik Stenson was in electrifying form and he was later joined by Ricky Fowler and Phil Mickeslon. In fact, Stenson's putter would fire him to -15 and a whopping three shots ahead of Rory.

McIlroy had to stop the rot. He needed something to happen but more importantly, he needed to make something happen. With nothing to lose he had to push the boat out. The holes were running out as he hit the back nine.

Shaking himself together and with pure determination he created absolute magic on the 10
^th
hole. It will long live in the memory. A perfect drive of over 300 yards left him with just over 280 to the pin.

If you did not see his shot at the time, then get out your PC and google the words ‘Rory's shot to the 10
^th
hole in USPGA'. You will see one of the finest fairway woods ever recorded in the history of the game.

Standing in the middle of the course, with knees slightly bent and eyes firmly focussed on the ball, Rory takes a full swing and sends the ball out left. It is a dangerous ploy. You have to have practised this shot thousands of times to get it right, and so there is no fluke.

He also hits it left as the pin on the green is tucked away in the back left. If he goes straight or right, not only does he gamble with troublesome bunkers but he knows he will leave his ball too far from the pin if it makes the green. He must go for it – and go left.

The ball rockets from his feet like a surface to air missile and it tears along the left side of the rough like a city bus travelling briskly along a bus lane. It comes into land and hits the fairway only narrowly avoiding the rough.

It skirts along the edge of the fairway and then you can hear a roar go up from the galleries up ahead. They see that it has not only approached the front of the green but it is still travelling fast.

Like a laser-guided missile homing in on the target, all of a sudden you can see the ball nearing the pin. The roar reaches an almighty crescendo. The ball comes to a stop no more than eight feet from the flag. He duly sank the eagle putt to get to -14, a shot behind.

At the 11
^th
he had a good chance for birdie to draw level with the leaders but had to settle for par three. Then at the par-four 13
^th
, he birdied and incredibly he was back as joint leader with Phil Mickelson at -15 under as Stenson dropped away.

The turning point came at the 16
^th
and it did not actually involve Rory. Mickelson got into trouble off the tee and although he tried gallantly to salvage the situation with a 10-foot putt for par, he missed to drop back to -14.

Still there was more drama to be played out. Seeing and hearing of Phil's mistake, Rory could have played the percentages like he did so admirably in the Open. But with two holes left there was a huge reason why he did not.

Rory knew there was a good chance that because of that error, Phil would birdie the par-five 18
^th
to finish his tournament on -15. However, there was no guarantee that Rory would birdie it meaning then that there would be a playoff between him and Lefty.

The thing about a very reachable par five is that on average it is 50/50 you will birdie, and at best 60/40. So there is never any guarantee as most golfers have to put extra effort into the drive, which can often go awry.

With that very much to the forefront of his mind, Rory pushed the boat out on the 17
^th
. He hit a magnificent shot over 300 yards – but it found a bunker! As that was happening, Phil did indeed birdie the final hole to finish as the leader in the clubhouse at -15 under.

But Rory hit such a long drive that all he was hoping for as he walked down the fairway was to see his ball in a good lie in the sand. He was in luck. With just 150 yards to the green, he hit his second shot to 11 feet for a birdie chance.

He rammed it home and now at -16, all he had to do was precisely the same as in Liverpool. Take a stroll in the park up the 18
^th
and acknowledge the applause from the crowds as the 2014 USPGA winner. It was that easy and that's precisely what happened.

A routine par five with no histrionics won Rory his second major and third title in a month. It was also his fourth major in all by the age of 25. In near darkness, everything was hurried in regard to the presentation ceremonies and that took a little gloss off his great win.

When he sank the winning putt, he turned and punched the air in an action that looked like he was throwing a javelin at a major athletics meet. Thrilled and beaming with a smile that never left his face, it was his happiest moment in golf as he revealed:

I really gutted it out today. The other three [major wins] were quite comfortable but I really had to dig deep today. It's been just incredible. I didn't think in my wildest dreams I'd have a summer like this. I've played the best golf of my life.

He did, and he played the greatest shot of his life which by a long way eclipsed his ‘stone dead' pitch to the par three in his first major win at Congressional. The fairway wood for eagle at the 10
^th
is also right up there with the greatest shots ever witnessed.

Although unquestionably it won him that fourth major, and so it will always be, to this point, his greatest shot, he still had work to do to win. So it was not a crowning glory 18
^th
hole shot to rival Christy O'Connor Junior or Padraig Harrington's spectaculars.

But it is unquestionably right there in the middle of the top 10 shots of all time behind those just mentioned (with Christy number one) and a few of Mickelson's. Get the clip out again Rory: just like Christy and Padraig's, one never tires of such shots – strokes of genius.

One sublime moment on the 10
^th
changed everything and in the immortal words of the American commentator as the last putt dropped, ‘IT'S GLORY FOR RORY IN KENTUCKY'.

J
ust because the last major of the 2014 season was done, dusted and put away in Rory's cupboard, it did not mean that his season was over. Far from it – he had two huge prizes still to play for.

First up was the series of Fedex Cup events, with each of the four tournaments carrying a first prize the equal of any of the four majors – over $1.4 million leading to a possible $10 million bonus to the overall winner.

Rory was gutted to lose out on winning it in 2012 having been runner-up to Brandt Snedeker, and he will desperately want to have this title on his resume in the coming years. He also knows that a certain Tiger Woods holds two Fedex titles.

Then at the end of September Rory would jet to Scotland to team up with his European colleagues for the Ryder Cup. Rory has two from two Ryder Cups in his bag while also having a good personal record in the event. Lee Westwood's career points will be his target.

On the 21 August, he teed off in round one of the Fedex Cup at The Barclays held in New Jersey's Ridgewood Country Club. There is quite a large Irish-American population in these parts so he was not lacking in support.

But he got off to a very poor start shooting a +3, 74 and although he improved next day with a -6, 65 the damage had been done. That score only really got him back into it and two further rounds of 70 was nowhere near good enough to trouble Hunter Mahan.

The American, who had famously beaten Rory in the final of the World Matchplay, opened with 66 and rounded off his week with 65 to win on 14 under. Rory finished tied 22
^nd
on five under and at least he could try to improve on this in the overall Fedex competition.

This he most certainly did at the Tournament Players Club (TPC) in Boston the following week. Roared by another hugely partisan ‘Irish' crowd, once again he did not get off to a great start after posting a -1, 70.

He steadily improved with a 69 in the second round and after dazzling the crowds with a fantastic 64 in the penultimate round, he had put himself right back into the mix with a chance of winning his third US Tour title in little over a month.

Another 70 was a huge disappointment as Chris Kirk went on to win by two shots. Rory came in fifth and despite lamenting the lackluster final round display he was now a leading contender for the Fedex jackpot. All he required from two remaining events was a win.

The show traveled on to Colorado a week later for the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills Country club. Three great rounds were ruined by another gut wrenching round which cost him a shot at winning.

After recording a pair of 67s, he was stopped in his tracks in the third round with a 72. Rory will wince at what befell him during that event. His saga at the par-three 12
^th
hole will be recorded forever as one of his most infamous moments on a golf course.

To gauge what happened and how embarrassing it was, measure out a distance of four feet five inches on your floor. That is how far Rory left his ball from the pin after a stunning shot left him with an easy birdie opportunity.

Well it looked easy, but in sport we all know nothing is certain. Approaching his ball Rory must have felt he was going to get a shot back on his scorecard. He had bogeyed three holes and birdied two and was one over for his round. This would get him back to six under.

He missed and he missed again…. and again and finally he put the ball in the hole with his fourth putt! It was excruciating agony. Coming into the 12
^th
on five under, he left it falling back to three under.

The 200-yard hole can be treacherous if the pin is placed at the back of the green where it is situated on an undulating sloping surface. But there were no excuses for taking four putts and so it was totally unforgivable when he did almost exactly the same thing next day!

Leaving his ball just over 20 feet for birdie, he again took four putts and dropped two shots. Although he got them back and retrieved his round with a 66 to tie eighth, it was too little, too late. Billy Horschel won by two shots and was one of only five men in line for Fedex glory.

With just the Tour Championship in the deep south of Atlanta, Georgia, remaining, Horschel, Rory, Hunter Mahan, Chris Kirk and Jim Furyk had been the most consistent performers. Whoever triumphed in the final event would be richly rewarded.

Going into the climactic week of the series, for which 130 golfers started and it was now whittled down to a final 30, Rory caused another ripple of laughter and put a few smiles on faces when he again referred to his darting home for a day or two. He explained:

It's amazing what a night in your own bed can do. I was standing in the shower in Denver [BMW in Colorado] on Monday and I just thought to myself ‘why am I traveling to Atlanta today'. So I didn't and I went home to Florida for a day and a half!

He had plenty more to say at the obligatory eve of tournament press conference and with regard to possibly winning the Fedex Cup for the first time. He said:

Of course $10 million is a lot of money to anyone and I'm not saying I'm not motivated by money in any way. But winning the FedEx Cup is one of the things I haven't achieved in the game of golf. And that's the real reason I want to win this week. The title would mean more to me.

Elaborating on this he added:

Anything other than a win would be a disappointment. Although if I came second or third and still ended up winning, that would be cool as well. But I want to win as I only have to beat 28 other guys [one withdrew through injury] rather than a regular field of 155.

It was also the first time for 22 years that the final event did not contain either Tiger or Phil Mickelson. With regard to that, Rory then made one of his most controversial remarks in quite some time when stating:

Phil is 44 and Tiger nearly 40 so they're obviously getting into the last few holes of their careers. That's what happens. It obviously gets harder as you get older. I'll be able to tell you in 20 years how it feels.

When the comments flew around the world in a matter of minutes, Rory later back-tracked and explained that he meant Tiger was plagued with injuries and Phil was in a bad patch of form.

He also said that he would say this to them regularly in the locker room and that he was only stating facts. But these sort of needless remarks, as mentioned in the first book, have a nasty habit of coming back to bite hard in future.

At East Lake Golf Club on 11
^th
September, Rory frustratingly began with another poor first round when signing for a -1, 69. At least the old freaky Friday syndrome had been firmly banished when he improved greatly next day with a 65.

That put him right up there in contention but at the halfway stage one of the five was effectively out of it. Hunter Mahan was all over the place on the golf course and was enduring a nightmare. His chances faded fast.

McIlroy could see Las Vegas-like casino lights flashing
‘Jackpot $11 million dollars'
as he hit the front in the third round, courtesy of a 67 which put him at the top on nine under, but it was a case of the cream rising.

Joining him on nine under under was Billy Horschel and just behind in the top half dozen was Chris Kirk and Jim Furyk. All were hungry hombres looking to swell their already bulging bank balances. It all promised to be a fascinating and intriguing last day shootout.

Horschel and McIlroy paired together in the final group of the final round of the final Fedex event. There seemed on paper to be only one winner. But it turned out very different to how almost everybody envisaged beforehand.

The gritty American actually seemed more relaxed and his early birdies seemed to unsettle Rory. It went from bad to worse for him when he racked up a horror double bogey on the fifth.