NORTON, Massachusetts — In a Labor Day finish filled with some of golf's biggest names, Rory McIlroy sent his stock soaring in the Deutsche Bank Championship.McIlroy overcame a three-shot deficit Monday in five holes, and then survived mistakes on the final two holes to close with a 4-under 67 and escape with a one-shot victory over Louis Oosthuizen.McIlroy joined Tiger Woods as the only three-time winners on the PGA Tour this year, and with one of his wins being the PGA Championship, that might be enough for his peers to vote him player of the year. He also finally built a comfortable gap at No. 1 in the world.Oosthuizen had a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to force a playoff, only it slid by on the right side for a 71.Woods made an early charge to get back in the hunt, though he never got closer than three shots until a two-putt birdie on the par-5 18th gave him a 66. He finished in third place, two shots behind, and earned enough money to become the first player to surpass $100 million in PGA Tour earnings.Phil Mickelson also had a 66 and tied for fourth, along with Dustin Johnson, who had a 70 and likely played his way onto the Ryder Cup team. Brandt Snedeker made a strong case for a captain's pick with a 65-67 weekend to finish sixth.Davis Love III will announce his four picks Tuesday morning.McIlroy didn't make it easy on himself. The 23-year-old from Northern Ireland had a three-shot lead with six holes to play, and only a clutch bogey putt on the 17th hole kept him from losing all of his lead."I had a couple of wobbles coming in, but I obviously did enough and I'm very excited to get a victory," McIlroy said.Oosthuizen, who had to cope with pain in his right shoulder earlier in the round, came back with two birdies on the back to get within one shot.McIlroy hit a chip over the 17th green into more rough, and it looked as if he would struggle to make bogey. Oosthuizen, however, missed the green from the fairway, chipped poorly to 10 feet and missed his par putt, and Boy Wonder calmly sank his 5-foot bogey putt to stay one shot ahead."The 17th hole cost me," Oosthuizen said.McIlroy finished 20-under 264 and moved to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup, assuring he will have a shot at the $10 million bonus at the Tour Championship later this month.It was the second time this year that Oosthuizen, who won the British Open by seven shots at St. Andrews two years ago, failed to win after leading going into the final round.McIlroy made an early charge with three straight birdies, but the turning point came on the fifth hole when Oosthuizen felt pain in his shoulder on a tee shot that sailed into the trees and led to double bogey.The pain went away on the back, which the South African attributed to an adrenaline rush.As always at the TPC Boston, this was quite a show on a late summer day in New England. This is the tournament that delivers duels between Woods and Vijay Singh (twice) and Woods and Mickelson. This time, all of them had fleeting hopes of winning.McIlroy and Oosthuizen turned it into a two-man race, with Woods lurking until he couldn't convert enough putts.In the end, neither could Oosthuizen. He missed from just inside 10 feet for par on the 17th and from 12 feet on the 18th."I probably made all my putts yesterday," Oosthuizen said.
Showing posts with label Deutsche. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deutsche. Show all posts
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
McIlroy fires 65 to take lead at Deutsche Bank
NORTON, Massachusetts — Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods played together in the opening two rounds of the season in Abu Dhabi. They were together again for the opening two rounds at Bethpage Black for the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs. The idea is to get them together with a trophy on the line.
Take charge: Rory McIlroy reacts after missing a putt during the second round on Saturday in Norton, Massachusetts. APBoth took a step in that direction Saturday in the Deutsche Bank Championship.McIlroy went from one extreme to another on par 5s just 30 minutes apart — a 4-iron into 10 feet for eagle on No. 18, a 5-wood in the water for bogey on No. 2 — but steadied himself for another 6-under 65.Woods, playing in the afternoon, had three birdies on the opening six holes until he could no longer get a putt to drop. He made birdie putts of 30 feet and 15 feet late in the round to salvage a 68, which left him only two shots behind.In between was Louis Oosthuizen, the former British Open champion with one of the purest swings in golf. Oosthuizen had four 2s on his card of 65, and goes into the third round just one shot behind and in the final group with McIlroy."Everything seemed to work pretty well out there," McIlroy said. "I felt like I drove the ball a bit better today and hit more fairways, which gave me some more opportunities to make birdies. And I was putting well enough to take a few of those. Yeah, pleased with where I am and looking forward to the weekend."Ryan Moore had a 68, playing the front nine in 1 over, and joined Woods at 10-under 132.Woods missed out on a chance to be paired with McIlroy on Sunday when he missed the fairway on the par-5 18th, laid up short of the marsh and came up just short of the green and its front hole location. He had to get up-and-down for par.Even so, this Labor Day weekend could bring another heavyweight bout.The TPC Boston is where Woods and Vijay Singh had a memorable battle on Labor Day in 2004, when Singh won to replace Woods at No. 1 in the world. Two years later, Woods closed with a 63 to rally from a three-shot deficit against Singh. And in the first year of the FedEx Cup in 2007, it was Phil Mickelson who played three rounds with Woods and wound up beating him by two shots."I think if you look at the overall list of champions here, they're all big hitters," Woods said in an effort to explain why the Deutsche Bank Championship provides such great theater.McIlroy, who won the PGA Championship by a record eight shots at Kiawah Island three weeks ago, looked comfortable on the smoother greens of TPC Boston and had only one bad spell of back-to-back bogeys on his back nine.Woods came out firing in the afternoon with back-to-back birdies, only to get slowed quickly with a bogey from the bunker on No. 3 and going bunker-to-bunker on the fourth hole when he scrambled for par. He got back with a shot into 3 feet on the sixth for birdie, but he couldn't take advantage of several shots in the 12- to 15-foot range.It looked as though it was getting under his skin, but all he had to do was think back to that opening round of 64."You've got to let it balance itself out because I made everything yesterday," he said. "Today was one of those days where I had some good looks, missed them, but didn't feel like I was really rolling it correctly. Then I figured something out, and then from then on, I poured it pretty good."
Take charge: Rory McIlroy reacts after missing a putt during the second round on Saturday in Norton, Massachusetts. APBoth took a step in that direction Saturday in the Deutsche Bank Championship.McIlroy went from one extreme to another on par 5s just 30 minutes apart — a 4-iron into 10 feet for eagle on No. 18, a 5-wood in the water for bogey on No. 2 — but steadied himself for another 6-under 65.Woods, playing in the afternoon, had three birdies on the opening six holes until he could no longer get a putt to drop. He made birdie putts of 30 feet and 15 feet late in the round to salvage a 68, which left him only two shots behind.In between was Louis Oosthuizen, the former British Open champion with one of the purest swings in golf. Oosthuizen had four 2s on his card of 65, and goes into the third round just one shot behind and in the final group with McIlroy."Everything seemed to work pretty well out there," McIlroy said. "I felt like I drove the ball a bit better today and hit more fairways, which gave me some more opportunities to make birdies. And I was putting well enough to take a few of those. Yeah, pleased with where I am and looking forward to the weekend."Ryan Moore had a 68, playing the front nine in 1 over, and joined Woods at 10-under 132.Woods missed out on a chance to be paired with McIlroy on Sunday when he missed the fairway on the par-5 18th, laid up short of the marsh and came up just short of the green and its front hole location. He had to get up-and-down for par.Even so, this Labor Day weekend could bring another heavyweight bout.The TPC Boston is where Woods and Vijay Singh had a memorable battle on Labor Day in 2004, when Singh won to replace Woods at No. 1 in the world. Two years later, Woods closed with a 63 to rally from a three-shot deficit against Singh. And in the first year of the FedEx Cup in 2007, it was Phil Mickelson who played three rounds with Woods and wound up beating him by two shots."I think if you look at the overall list of champions here, they're all big hitters," Woods said in an effort to explain why the Deutsche Bank Championship provides such great theater.McIlroy, who won the PGA Championship by a record eight shots at Kiawah Island three weeks ago, looked comfortable on the smoother greens of TPC Boston and had only one bad spell of back-to-back bogeys on his back nine.Woods came out firing in the afternoon with back-to-back birdies, only to get slowed quickly with a bogey from the bunker on No. 3 and going bunker-to-bunker on the fourth hole when he scrambled for par. He got back with a shot into 3 feet on the sixth for birdie, but he couldn't take advantage of several shots in the 12- to 15-foot range.It looked as though it was getting under his skin, but all he had to do was think back to that opening round of 64."You've got to let it balance itself out because I made everything yesterday," he said. "Today was one of those days where I had some good looks, missed them, but didn't feel like I was really rolling it correctly. Then I figured something out, and then from then on, I poured it pretty good."
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