Bay Hill no match for inspired McIlroy

Rory McIlroy birdied five of the last six holes to return to the winner’s circle for the first time in 539 days at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

It’s fitting that in a town where you can ride Space Mountain or Mission Space at Disney World and spend your days and weeks dizzy, wondering whether you’re up or down that Rory McIlroy stopped the ride and brought everyone back to Earth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

A tidy sixty-four strokes — only 31 of which came on the back nine at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge — can put a halt to this roller-coaster that has been McIlroy’s world. Playing what he called “almost a perfect round of golf” from the sixth hole, McIlroy broke free from an all-star pack — Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose and a guy named Tiger Woods — and parlayed his 8-under 64 into an 18-under 270 to score a three-stroke win over Bryson DeChambeau (68).

The fact that it wrote a delectable storyline was impossible to ignore. McIlroy’s last PGA TOUR win, the 2016 TOUR Championship, not only came courtesy of a fourth-round 64 to wrap up the FedExCup Championship, but it was authored on the day (Sept. 25) that Palmer left this world, a “bittersweet day,” he said.

So, to win a tournament that Palmer started, nurtured and loved dearly, well, “It means a lot,” the Northern Irishman said. “It’s sort of come full circle since that day in September of 2016.”

Beyond that symmetry, McIlroy’s scintillating win provided also focus, because on so many occasions it’s been easy to get caught up in the ups and downs of the young man’s career.

When in 2017 he failed to win a tournament anywhere for the first time since 2008, his first full year as a pro, it shouldn’t have resonated like it did. After all, he owned 13 PGA TOUR wins, nine others worldwide, and had already claimed four major championships. Good gracious, he has had seven stints as No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking and his 95 weeks in the penthouse was a total surpassed only by the likes of Woods, Greg Norman and Nick Faldo.

Yet, the roller-coaster was in motion and the media was aboard – wondering why he didn’t play his way back into the TOUR Championship last fall, why he missed a few cuts, why his early-season polish in the Middle East didn’t come with him to the PGA TOUR this year? Why was he 13^th in the world, the lowest he’s been since 8 November 2009.

“You don’t need to get on it with me, if you don’t want to,” McIlroy said after a trophy presentation that included a sporty red cardigan, symbolic of a piece of apparel that Palmer fancied.

His point was that “golf is so fickle” and it’s difficult enough for players to play without worrying about all these stories that chronicle his every up and his every down. His putting, so often scrutinized, was in great form as he ranked first in Strokes Gained Putting. His driving prowess, so often the strength of his game, was vintage stuff.

“You’re never far away from producing golf like what I did today,” McIlroy said. “But on the flip side, I don’t think you’re ever far away from producing mediocre golf as well.”

There was nothing mediocre about what the 28-year-old did on a day of pulsating warmth, especially on those homeward holes when roars were at their loudest, thanks to the guy a few holes in front of him.

“Tiger had just made birdie on 13 (to push to 12 under) and was on his way to 14 tee when a ‘Tiger’ chant started,” McIlroy said, who at the time was tied for the lead with Stenson at 13 under.

“Then people around the green on 11 retaliated with a ‘Rory’ chant. It wasn’t quite as loud.”

McIlroy wore a smile, because he knows around whom the golf universe has orbited. He’s OK with that, too. He’s also very comfortable in his own abilities and has just been waiting for it to all come together, like in 2016 when he won the FedExCup, or in 2014 when he won three times, or in 2012 when there were four triumphs.

“It’s a fine line out here,” he said. “I think you have to play the game to really appreciate that. It’s not as black and white as some people make it out to be.”

Forget black and white — it was nothing but a sea of red for McIlroy. His birdies at 13 and 14 that lead into a chip-in birdie at 15 ignited thunderous roars. A fourth straight birdie at 16 pretty much put things away, though the birdie at 18 — one of eight at that demanding finish — was the ultimate exclamation point.

Then again, McIlroy being McIlroy, he offered a more personal ending.

“To Arnold,” he said, raising a toast to the assembled media following the press conference.

To Arnold, indeed.

But also to the brilliantly talented McIlroy.

Credit: PGA TOUR