McIlroy’s Memorial challenge fades out in Ohio

RORY McILROY tried all he knew but was unable to live with the scorching pace set by Steve Stricker and a host of other Americans in the final round of the Memorial tournament at Muirfield Village, Ohio, yesterday.

Whereas Stricker, who enjoyed a three-shot lead after 54 holes, never missed a fairway in a spectacular outward nine of six under 30, and Brandt Jobe and Matt Kuchar maintained the pressure at the top of the leaderboard, McIlroy lacked the consistency that would have kept him in the running for the $1.16m (€790,000) winner’s cheque.

Five behind Stricker at the outset, he picked up an early birdie at the second but quickly demonstrated that he still hadn’t eradicated the errors that dogged his efforts over the opening three rounds by narrowly missing the third green and failing to get down in chip and putt. McIlroy was quickly back on song and when he brilliantly reeled off four successive birdies from the 5th to move 11 under, he remained four behind Stricker but only a shot out of second place.