Rory McIlroy shot a final-round 6-under 65 as he won the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club at 17-under par by five shots over Xander Schauffele. This is McIlroy's 26th win on the PGA Tour and his fourth Wells Fargo Championship win at Quail Hollow, with his other victories in Charlotte coming in 2010, 2015 and 2021.
Schauffele entered the final round with the 54-hole lead at 12-under par, one shot clear of McIlroy in second at 11-under par and four shots clear of Sungjae Im in third at 8-under par. After Im made a bogey at the first hole, it was clear that McIlroy and Schauffele were in a two-horse race. McIlroy (+800) and Schauffele (+950) entered the Wells Fargo Championship as the betting favorites at bet365 prior to play beginning on Thursday.
Schauffele eagled the par-5 seventh hole to take a two-shot lead at 13-under over McIlroy, who made a disappointing par at the seventh.
McIlroy then mounted a furious charge as he played the eighth through 15th holes in 8-under par as he remarkably made four birdies (on holes 8, 9, 13 and 14) and two eagles (on holes 10 and 15) in that span of eight holes to move to 19-under par. McIlroy's hole-out eagle from a greenside bunker on the par-5 15th hole was the exclamation point that solidified his win.
HOLE-OUT EAGLE FOR RORY[
He now leads by SIX! pic.twitter.com/UE49lwfwNC
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 12, 2024
This opened up a six-shot lead for McIlroy with three holes remaining over Schauffele, with no one else within nine shots.
McIlroy will enter the PGA Championship with some serious momentum as he has won in his last two starts on the PGA Tour after he and Shane Lowry won in a playoff two weeks ago at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
The PGA Championship this upcoming week will be played in Louisville, Kentucky at Valhalla Golf Club, which last hosted the PGA Championship in 2014. Rory McIlroy won that week to win his fourth major championship but is somehow yet to win another major championship.
He will be a popular pick to bust out of his major drought at Valhalla this week and currently and has moved from +1000 from before the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship to +850 to win the PGA Championship.
Also, what's the next host of the PGA Championship in 2025? That's right — Quail Hollow Club, the site of today's dominant win for McIlroy.
Rory McIlroy gained 4.11 strokes on the greens Sunday, his most in any PGA Tour round in 2 years.
It's his 14th PGA Tour win when trailing entering the final round, 6 more than any other player since 2010.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) May 12, 2024
On the other hand, it was a frustrating Sunday for Schauffele, who battled with Wyndham Clark at Quail Hollow last year in the final round before also finishing in solo second. After making eagle at the seventh hole, he went one over the rest of the way to finish five shots behind McIlroy in second.
CBS analyst and 2008 Masters winner Trevor Immelman remarked on the back nine that for Schauffele, “This one is really going to hurt. He got completely destroyed today.”
Schauffele last won on the PGA Tour at the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open but now has eight top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in 12 starts in 2024. He is +1800 to win the PGA Championship.
Byeong Hun An finished in a distant third place at 9-under after shooting a final-round 5-under 66. An, who was on the Korn Ferry Tour just two years ago, now incredibly sits in sixth place in the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Standings.
This was An’s second consecutive top-five finish on Tour as he tied for fourth last week at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson and his fifth overall top 10 of the year.
An, who ranked 120th in Strokes Gained (SG): Putting entering the week, led the field in SG: Putting as he gained 2.01 strokes over the field per round on the greens, per Datagolf. He was also the only golfer to beat McIlroy in SG: Putting on Sunday, as McIlroy’s 3.90 strokes gained on the greens were second only to An’s 4.24 SG: Putting today.
