Rory McILroy came up just shy of possibly winning his second back-to-back win two week’s running on the DP Tour, narrowing losing to Billy Horschel in a thrilling three-way playoff at Wentworth last Sunday evening. What an exciting final day it was at the historic pristine Wentworth club in London. Overnight leader Matteo Mannassero struggled on his final round, surely due to the pressure of being at the top of the leaderboard going into the final round. After playing three remarkable rounds he fumbled to a one over par final round still only three shots off the final winning score. He can’t but have felt like he left this event behind him with shooting over par on the final day and still finishing only three shots behind the eventual winner.
Rory McILroy, Billy Horschel shot five under and an amazing final round of minus seven by Thristan Lawrence meant all three players would eventually finish on the same score of minus twenty under par. Rory was chasing on the back nine and needed a strong finish and strong he did finish with a back nine that included two birdies and an incredible eagle on the Par 5 seventeenth. One of Rory’s strongest strengths is his accuracy with his longer clubs in particular his long irons. He flushed a long iron straight at the pin on the seventeenth but the ball stopped very quickly leaving him a long thirty-foot plus putt that he duly rolled into the centre of the cup. He hit an incredible fairway wood over the trees on the eighteenth to find the centre of the fairway, however he was left an awkward yardage to the pin because his four iron wasn’t enough to reach the pin but his five wood would be too much club. The front of the final green is surrounded and protected with a water hazard that comes across the whole front of the green. The right side if the hazard is a shorter carry to clear the water so with the back left pin position Rory tried to hit a strong draw with his four iron with the hope it might run up the green however, he over drew his shot and it came up a long way short of his intended target. Luckily for Rory though he managed to narrowly avoid the hazard and still had a chance to get up and down to secure the win. It wasn’t meant to be though and Rory would eventually have to settle for a par five on his final hole which would be good enough to get him into a three-way playoff.
Billy Horschel went into the playoff however full of confidence after two remarkable birdies on both the seventeenth and eighteenth holes. Billy on his final hole wasn’t in perfect position to take on the green in two so he and his caddy decided it would be best to lay up to his preferred yardage for his third shot. As it turned out this decision was indeed the right one as he almost holed out his third wedge shot which pitched several feet passed the pin and spun back narrowly missing the edge of the cup. Billy would go on to confidentially roll in his birdie putt to also make the playoff.
On the first playoff hole unfortunately Lawrence over faded his tee shot close to the trees where he was left with a soft wet lie from where the crowds had been walking all week. Although his lie was not good, he had no choice but to try go for the green in two but unfortunately the lie meant he did not get his second shot airborne and it scooted into the nearby fairway bunker. He didn’t get a great lie in the bunker and this combined with an awkward stance left him having to try to draw a wedge to try and reach the green surface. He just about managed to reach the green but with so much spin created from being in the bunker meant his ball would severely spin off the green into the water hazard knocking him out of contention.
Rory having hit a poor second shot in real time ended up over compensating in the playoff going too far right. Billy took dead aim at the pin but also bailed right on his approach making sure he didn’t find the water hazard but instead found the bunker that protects the right side of the green. Rory and Billy were left with two difficult third shots however both hit brilliant third shots leaving themselves as close as seven to eight feet from the pin. Rory confidentially rolled in his right to left putt and Billy follow suit with another solid confident putting stroke meaning they would go back to the eighteenth tee once again.
This time both players once again hit flawless tee shots over the trees on the right corner of the left to right dogleg. Both were left with long iron shots to this final green again and with Rory first up he flushed his long iron to about thirty-five feet from the pin putting a lot of pressure on Billy. Billy however having played flawless fearless golf all week follow Rory in flushing his long iron with a slight fade into the heart of the final green. Billy a few feet closer than Rory had the advantage to seeing how Rory’s putt would react at the hole as Rory grazed the edge of the cup on his noble attempt. Billy cool as a breeze stood up and confidentially struck his thirty-footer and watched it roll into the centre of the cup.
None of these players deserved to lose but unfortunately as it always does in golf it comes down to who holds the putts at the right moment. Rory did not lose the tournament it was won by Billy. In an interview afterwards Billy was feeling sorry for Rory as he has had quite the year of close calls :
“I mean I’m thrilled, excited for the way I played, but at the same time a little disappointed. Rory’s a really good friend of mine and I think the world of him. A generational talent and I know how close he’s been this year so I can feel for him, but at the same time and I’m pretty excited for just being able to get it done today.”
Horschel was undoubtedly alluding to how Rory’s 2024 season has been ladened with multiple disappointments. He notoriously missed out on winning the US Open to Bryson DeChambeau, was left outside the medal ceremony at the Olympics having come 5th in the Men’s stroke play, and lost the Irish Open by a single stroke to Rasmus Højgaard a week earlier.
