Toronto, Canada – It was a duel for the ages, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the PGA Tour. On a week when a rival tour headed up by Greg Norman made its debut in London, two of the biggest stars in the world put on a show at St.George’s Golf and Country Club.
PGA Champion Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy traded body blow for body blow, but it was the 33 year old Ulsterman who prevailed at the end when Thomas (64) faded down the stretch to finish solo third. McIlroy fired an 8-under 62 to win his second RBC Canadian Open with a two-stroke victory over Tony Finau (64) to finish at 19-under par. McIlroy had the crowd on his side throughout the week in his first ever successful title defense (he won in 2019 – the last time the event was played due to COVID-19).
“If there was some honorary Canadian citizenship bestowed upon me I certainly wouldn’t turn it down,” said McIlroy with a laugh, the Canadian Open trophy sitting beside him.
“That would be a very proud thing for me. But, no, I’m happy to come up here once every now and again and play some golf and take this trophy south of the border with me.”
Justin Rose was on fire Sunday, firing 3 eagles – he needed only a par to shoot 59, birdie to tie the all-time low of 58 (Jim Furyk), and he air mailed the green on the 72nd hole, making bogey. Rose’s 10-under 60 was the low round of the tournament. He was disappointed that he missed out on the 59, but was satisfied with his fourth-place finish overall.
“You’re really just playing the last hole, I never shot 59 before so it would have been a lovely footnote on the week,” said Rose, who suggested he may have chosen the wrong club on the 18th hole. “I don’t know how much was in my control or not.”
In the end, it felt like a Hollywood ending – there was McIlroy who seemed to ride in on his white horse just in time to metaphorically save Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour. And you could get a sense that he knew it, “I had extra motivation of what’s going on across the pond,” said McIlroy. “The guy that’s spearheading that tour has 20 wins on the PGA Tour and I was tied with him and I wanted to get one ahead of him. And I did.
“So that was really cool for me, just a little sense of pride on that one.”
Scores: https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2022/rbc-canadian-open/leaderboard.html
