"RORY MCILROY
Lifts OZ OPEN !!!"
Double major-winner Rory Mcilroy won the Australian Open on Sunday with a birdie at the final hole, sensationally pipping the home favorite Adam Scott, to secure his first tournament victory of 2013.Scott was leading by a stroke with one hole to play and looked certain to become only the second player ever to capture the Australian "Triple Crown".However the World No.02 dramatically bogeyed the last and Rory holed a 16-foot birdie putt for a final day 66 to win a total of 18-under par at the Royal Sydney Course, becoming only the second European to win the event.
Having led for the vast majority of the Australian Open in his bid to take out the coveted triple crown of Australian majors, Adam Scott let it slip on the final hole of the final tournament in the trifecta. And he was ‘‘gutted’’ about it.
With a bogey on the final hole, Scott’s dream of winning all three Australian majors was dashed. Rory McIlroy, who had not won all year, drained the four-metre putt on the 18th at Royal Sydney to take the Stonehaven Cup. The final putt of the tournament had felled Scott, who had led almost from start to finish. Almost.
‘‘I’m disappointed to make an error at the last and open the door for Rory,’’ Scott said afterwards.
‘‘I could have put this thing away I think early on if the putter was behaving how it should have, like it did the rest of the week, but I just misjudged into the last and a player as good as Rory is going to take that opportunity."
‘‘It’s just the way golf is. I’m gutted. I felt like I never had a better chance to win the Aussie Open.’’
He still had it heading up the 18th fairway. One shot up, Scott overshot the green with his second, then overshot the hole with his chip. He two-putted but the damage had been done.
He would have to make do with second, still a remarkable effort with him already having taked the Australian Masters and PGA tournaments in recent weeks.
Former Australian Open champion John Senden shot a six-under-par round of 66 to finish third.
Scott, the US Masters winner, was doing his best to smile but this will hurt. It was hardly his capitulation in last year’s British Open, having bogeyed the final four holes, but Scott still led by four shots – even over a player of McIlroy’s talent – heading into the final day.
McIlroy put early pressure on Scott, turning the corner at
four-under for the round and, while Scott responded, the world No.6
saved his best for last. He sank his final putt, after Scott’s bogey
gave him a one-under round of 71.
Perhaps feeling like the bloke who turned the lights on at the party, McIlroy apologised to the crowds who turned up at Royal Sydney.
‘‘I’m sorry that I had to ruin Adam’s triple crown,’’ he said.
The victor, perhaps feeling like he had turned a more significant corner, paid tribute to Scott.
‘‘He’s had a phenomenal year,’’ McIlroy said.
‘‘It’s a real credit to him that he came down and played all four weeks. It would have been very easy to skip a couple ... to play four in a row is a credit to him.He knew what responsibility he had coming down as Masters champion, the first Australian to win a green jacket. He’s a credit to the game but he is also a credit to this country.’’Scott, whose bogeys came on the first and last holes, was doing his best to remain upbeat.
Golf can do this to anyone, even the world No.2, and the player many believe – rankings aside – is the best.
‘‘Absolutely, it does it on a daily basis to everyone out here,’’ Scott said.
‘‘It was going to be a tough day no matter what and Rory made his move and I just couldn’t knock in the putts you expect to make.''I’ve made them all week but slight mis-reads and not quite the right pace, didn’t match.
‘‘It’s been a great year. Obviously I didn’t want to finish like that. If I didn’t play any good the first few days and played great today and finished second I’d be pretty chuffed going into Christmas, so that’s how I should look at it.
‘‘I’ll get over this tonight and look forward to a few weeks’ rest and get ready to go next year.’
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