McIlroy Lacks Finishing Power... Taylor's Eagle Wins After 69 Years

McIlroy Ties for 9th at RBC Canadian Open
Taylor First Canadian Winner Since 1954
Fleetwood 2nd, Hatton 3rd, Kim Seong-hyeon 25th

The lack of finishing power from world No. 3 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) was evident.

On the 11th (local time), McIlroy finished the final round of the PGA Tour RBC Canadian Open (total prize money $9 million) at Oakdale Golf & Country Club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (par 77, 7,264 yards) with a 1-over-par, dropping to a tie for 9th place (12-under-par 276). He aimed for his third consecutive win at the tournament and his 24th career victory but settled for his sixth top-10 finish of the 2022/2023 season. The last player to win the same PGA Tour event three times in a row was Steve Stricker (USA), who dominated the John Deere Classic from 2009 to 2011.

Rory McIlroy is disappointed after missing a birdie putt on the 2nd hole of the 4th round at the RBC Canadian Open. [Toronto (Canada) = AFP·Yonhap News]

Starting the day tied for 2nd place, one stroke behind, McIlroy exchanged two birdies for two bogeys. Consecutive bogeys on holes 5 and 6 distanced him from the title race, and although he made birdies on the 12th hole (par 5) and 16th hole (par 4), it was not enough to turn the tide. His long drives averaged an impressive 340.70 yards. However, his fairway hit rate was shaky at 40%. He averaged 1.846 putts per hole.

Nick Taylor (Canada) surged with a 6-under-par round to tie with Tommy Fleetwood (England) at 17-under-par 271, then clinched the victory with an eagle on the fourth hole of a playoff on the 18th hole (par 5). This marked Taylor’s third career win, his first in 3 years and 4 months since winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February 2020, with a winner’s prize of $1.62 million (approximately 2.1 billion KRW). Taylor also made history as the first Canadian winner in 69 years since Pat Fletcher in 1954. Fleetwood missed out on his first career win and settled for his fifth runner-up finish.

Tyrrell Hatton (England) surged to a tie for 3rd place (16-under-par 272) with an 8-under-par round that included four consecutive birdies from holes 15 to 18. Pan Cheng-chung (Taiwan), who led the previous day, shot 2-under-par and joined this group. From Korea, Kim Sung-hyun recorded four birdies, one bogey, and one double bogey to finish one stroke better, ending the tournament tied for 25th place (7-under-par 281). No Seung-yeol added 2-under-par to rise to a tie for 38th place (5-under-par 283). Kang Sung-hoon lost three strokes and dropped to a tie for 57th place (1-under-par 287).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.