Rory McIlroy Dominates at Quail Hollow

Viewers and players alike were treated to a real spectacle this weekend at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club, in the form of one of our picks this week: Rory McIlroy. The World Number One showed us this weekend why he holds that title, winning the tournament by a Tiger-esque 7 strokes, finishing at 21-under, which is also a new final score record (previously held by Anthony Kim's 16-under in 2008). He finish ahead of Webb Simpson and PGA Tour Rookie Patrick Rodgers. This is Rory's second win this year and second time winning this tournament (his last win was in 2010 and was his first PGA win). This is also his 11th PGA Tour win and it further cements his place atop the World Gold Rankings.

The action started on Saturday when the Northern-Ireland native shot a course record 61, on a day where a score in the low 70's to high 60's was great. The round consisted of 11 birdies and the remarkable part was that nine of his eleven birdie putts were within 10 feet, on a course that's home to some of the longer holes on Tour. He followed this up with a 69 on Sunday.

As well as leading the tournament, Rory also led the field in driving distance and strokes gained tee to green, with an average drive of just over 321 yards. This was a key advantage to Rory, who could (and did) easily take advantage of the long par 4's and 5's. For example, the 16th at Quail Hollow is a 514-yard par 4, and played as the toughest hole on Sunday. In his final round, Rory hit a monster 364-yard drive to about 150 yards, then hit a gap wedge to three feet. While accurate approach shots like this are common on Tour, it's pretty rare to see them from these distances. Another record McIlroy broke this week was most birdies made in the tournament (27 this week).

Phil Mickelson, one of our other picks this week, also had an excellent T4 finish at (12-under). With this finish, Lefty continues his streak of amazing finishes at this tournament (despite not liking the course). Our last pick, Bill Haas finished the tournament at 1-over T68

On another note, that's another pick win for us and our second in just a month. This week, our coverage heads across the pond to Surrey, England at the Wentworth Club for the BMW PGA Championship, the crown jewel of the European Tour. Stay tuned for our picks for the tournament on Wednesday.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Rory McIlroy Wins The 2015 Quail Hollow Championship in Style