McIlroy wins WGC Bridgestone and overtakes Scott as world #1 golfer

McIlroy wins the WGC Bridgestone Invitational – his third tournament victory in four months.

There were shades of the 2014 Open Championship about the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. Sergio Garcia held the lead going into the final round this time with Rory McIlroy and a chasing pack that again included Australians Marc Leishman and Adam Scott.

But unlike The Open, the leader did not hold on to top spot.  Rory McIlroy had caught and passed Garcia by the third hole at Firestone CC and never looked back to win his second straight tournament – again beating Garcia by two shots.

So much for the post break-up blues. McIlroy has now won three tournaments since he split with Caroline Wozniacki.

Marc Leishman did his best to chase down top spot, just as he did at Hoylake, but a bad drive on the 14th hole which required a drop from heavy rough all but ended his hopes. Leishman finished in sole third place – his fourth top-10 finish in his last eight starts and will rise well into the top-50 of the official world golf rankings, his highest ever ranking.

McIlroy is now ranked as the world best golfer overtaking Adam Scott who finished eight shots behind in a share for eighth place. Scott needed to finish in fifth place or better to hold on to the world number one ranking.

Scott had a frustrating tournament. For the most part his game was in pretty good shape – his putting was particularly good but he struggled with his approach shots and couldn’t give himself enough good looks at the hole.

Along with Garcia and Leishman, Scott should give himself a good chance to contend at this week’s US PGA Championship – but one does have to wonder if anyone can beat McIlroy in this sort of form.