Rory McIlroy Wins The 2014 PGA Championship

In a spectacular fashion Rory McIlroy has won his second major of the year; the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club, his third win in just three starts. He finished the tournament at 16-under (-16) and won with a one shot lead over Phil Mickelson. He fought off the likes of an on-fire Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler, among others to win the Wanamaker Trophy. This is his fourth major win of his career and his second PGA Championship win. His win makes him the 3rd youngest 4-time major winner, behind Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. The last time a player won back-to-back majors was in 2008, where Padraig Harrington won both the Open Championship and PGA Championship.

Rory started his final round a little off, with a couple of bogeys but remained in the mix all throughout his round. It wasn't until his back nine (which started with an eagle on the 10th) where his round began to improve. He entered the 18th hole with a two-shot lead and parred it while Mickelson birdied it.

The weather turned for the worst on McIlroy's final hole however, as rain and darkness began to fall, causing the final two groupings (Phil Mickelson/Rickie Fowler) to combine into a foursome in order for all of them to finish their rounds and avoid a Monday finish. McIlroy two-putted the last green in near darkness, but stated afterwards that there was no way that he was going to opt for a Monday finish.

Rickie Fowler also played spectacularly, finishing T3 along with Henrik Stenson. Fowler has been doing well in all majors this year, having gone at least T5 in all four of them this year. This is also the second time that he's been bested by McIlroy at a major this year. When asked by David Feherty post-round about how it felt not to win this one, Fowler stated that this one stung the most.

We picked Rory to win this week, despite how "against-the-odds" it sounds for a player to win three tournaments in three starts, two being majors, but this surely is a testament to how good of a player McIlroy is. He's already been dubbed a first-name golfer; one who is known by only his first name i.e. Tiger, Jack, Phil, etc. Jack Nicklaus, interestingly enough, described Rory as a player who would go on to win 15-20 majors in his career, and seeing how he's been playing it might not be surprising to some.

Here is how the rest of our picks finished the tournament:

1) Rory McIlroy: WINNER
2) Rickie Fowler: T3 at 14-under (-14)
3) Ian Poulter: T59 at even par (E)

1) Graeme McDowell: T47 at 1-under (-1)

Stay tuned for our coverage next week of the Wyndam Championship and congrats again to Rory McIlroy,

-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Rory McIlroy: 2014 PGA Championship Winner