I have this at #6 for several reasons..
Earlier that day that 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa shot a 12-under 58 , the lowest score on a major professional tour to win his seventh Japan Tour title and I was writing about it, thinking about all the young guns on tour..
Rory had just made the cut with 72,73 in this Wells Fargo Championship, but that weekend he played the final two rounds at 16-under par 66,62, on a Quail Hollow course that the pros rave about, and it is ranked in the T10 courses they play every year in terms of difficulty.
Incidentally that was also the tournament that Tiger missed the 36-hole cut in a regular PGA Tour event for the first time since 2005 at Royal Montreal.
I watched Rory win his first pro event after he turned professional in 2007 at the age of 18, at the Dubai Desert Classic when he was 19, his girlfriend at the time couldn't be with him as she was sitting her high school exams !!
On this Sunday, not yet 21 he put on a clinic that displayed all of his skills and enormous potential for the North American audience.
His -10 62, the course record included an eagle at 15 after a 245 yard 2 iron to 10 feet, a birdie on 16 that featured a 6 iron from a fairway bunker to 6 feet, a lip out from 50 feet on 17 for birdie, then the coup de grace a center cut birdie from 45 feet on 18
He became the youngest winner on the U.S. PGA Tour since Tiger Woods 14 years ago, two days shy of his 21st birthday,
and he joins Severiano Ballesteros, Woods and Mickelson as the only players to win on the PGA Tour since 1970 before their 21st birthday.
He started the final round in a tie for seventh place at- 5 four shots behind leader Billy Mayfair and ended up beating Phil Mickelson by 4 shots.
He had four birdies over his first nine holes to move into a share of the lead and added four more birdies and that eagle on the back nine to beat the course record of 64.
“The last two days it seemed as if everything had just gone right,” “You get yourself into sort of a mindset like that, and you just keep going.” he said later.
What a year he went on to have, 12 of 16 cuts here with the win, T3 at the Open and the PGA, over $2.5m on the PGAtour and another 1.8m euros on the Eurotour, 10th in the world, a stalwart at the Ryder Cup in Wales, should have won Rookie of the Year, all at 21 years young.
But it was that fabulous Sunday round of 62 that really got him noticed here, he made it look easy when it wasn't and he will for years to come..
Next.. #5 Matt Kuchar #1 in the Fed Ex cup race..
Bryan Angus
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