McIlroy scorches to first US win

RORY MCILROY answered his critics in emphatic fashion by winning the Quail Hollow Championship by four shots from Phil Mickelson last night.

But this was more than just a victory. The former Irish Examiner National Junior Sports Star smashed the course record by two with a scintillating, bogey-free 10 under par 62 to secure his maiden PGA Tour victory in grandstand fashion on 15 under par.

Flabbergasted that he had played the last 36 holes in 16 under par, McIlroy said: “I just got in a zone and didn’t realise that I was going eight, nine, 10 under. I just knew that I got my nose in front and I was just trying to stay there.”