10 CALIFORNIA GOLF NEWS • JUNE 2010 TOUR Round-Up BY TOM LaMARRE T he Quail Hollow Championship had a Holywood finish. Not Hollywood, but Holywood, a town on the shores of Belfast Lough in County Down, Northern Ireland. Residents of the town stayed up late on a Sunday night to watch the pride of Holywood, Rory McIlroy, shoot a course record 10-under-par 62 to win at by four strokes at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. In doing so, he gave justification to the predic- tions that he is a future number-one 1 player in the world, but first he just simply wants to be recog- nized with the better young players in the world, such as Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas. “I shot a 16-under on the weekend around a golf course like this,” said McIlroy, whose first PGA Tour victory came two days before his 21st birth- day. “You can’t get much more of a confidence boost than that. But I’ve still got a long way to go. Great young players like Camilo and AK, they’ve won three times on this tour and hopefully I’ll be able to join them soon. I just want to concentrate on getting a few more wins, learn as much as I can at the majors. “This has been a great day and I’ll look forward to a few more.” McIlroy put people on notice that he was com- ing last year when he captured the Dubai Desert Classic on the European PGA Tour, finished second in the season-long Race to Dubai and had a brilliant run in the major championships. He tied for 20th in the Masters the first time he saw Augusta, tied for 10th in the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, and tied for third in the PGA Championship at Hazeltine, struggling only when he tied for 47th in the British Open at Turnberry. Their was criticism in Europe when McIlroy joined the PGA Tour this season, saying he did it because the best players and toughest fields are in the U.S., and he had people nodding their heads when he struggled early this year, in part because of a back injury. But at Quail Hollow, the kid did not flinch, even with three major champions in hot pursuit. McIlroy posted eight birdies and an eagle in the final round, playing the last five holes in five-under to finish at 72-73-66-62--273, 15-under, and collect $1,170,000. Phil Mickelson, trying to unseat Tiger Woods as the number-one player in the world, finished sec- ond at 70-68-71-68--277, followed by Angel Cabrera at 70-67-73-68--278, while Padraig Harrington tied for seventh at 72-72-70-68--282. “I had Phil behind me, Angel Cabrera,” said McIlroy, showing that he was well aware of his sur- roundings. “There’s a lot of guys still around there, and I kept telling myself, ‘there’s still a lot of golf to play, especially with the finish around here.’ I tried to pick my targets, hit my shots. “I just couldn’t get ahead of myself at all, even when I made eagle on 15. I knew I had got myself in a commanding position, but I still knew that any- thing can happen on this golf course. I remember David Toms taking an eight up the last a few years ago, and he still won, but it can happen. I just tried to really stay in the present and just tried to think about my next shot.” That’s what he did until putting a punctuation mark on his victory by holing a 43-foot birdie putt on the final hole and throwing his arms in the air. Rickie Fowler, the 21-year-old from Murrieta and Oklahoma State who has been mentioned with McIlroy as part of perhaps the PGA Tour’s best rookie class in years, finished sixth at 73-70-71-67- -281. Kim, who played the final round with McIlroy, shot 72-69-70-71--282 and tied for seventh with Matt Jones of Arizona State and Australia, who finished at 74-71-69-68--282, and Scott McCarron Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images Hurray For Holywood! Rory McIlroy holes a birdie putt on the 18th green to secure victory during the final round of the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.