THE PLAYERS Championship Recap: McIlroy Moves to No. 4

A cynic, or even a smartass, might say that the key to Rory McIlroy winning a tournament for the first time in a year was not being in the final group on Sunday. (Who knows, there might be something to that.)

But regardless, McIlroy did something differently at TPC Sawgrass, something he hadn't altogether done recently. And no, cynic/smartass, we're not talking about winning. We're talking about holding it together.

McIlroy played smart shot after smart shot and parlayed four back-nine birdies opposite just one bogey to capture THE PLAYERS Championship by one stroke over a gallant 48-year-old Jim Furyk. Not only did he encounter unusually cold and windy conditions in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., he emerged from a pack of 16 other guys within four shots of the lead early in the final round – four of them in the top-10 in the world.

This was one, gritty, hard-fought win. And it was a long time coming.

It was McIlroy's first win since Bay Hill last March and only his second anywhere in the world since the 2016 Tour Championship, a span of two and a half years. Really, it was his biggest win in five years, since the 2014 PGA Championship. Of course, McIlroy had done everything but win in the early going of 2019, finishing in the top six in five straight events. Seven times since that Bay Hill win, he had played in the final group on Sunday, only to go home seven times without the trophy.

McIlroy acknowledged afterward on Golf Channel that while he had been playing good golf, he had not been "getting the job done, not playing the right shot at the right time in the final round."

McIlroy's day was not without drama, as he rinsed his approach on No. 4 for a here-we-go-again moment that resulted in a double bogey. He did have two more bogeys the rest of the way, but stayed composed and patient. He more than made up for them with six birdies and a handful of big-time putts to finish at 2-under 70 on the day.

There was a 12-footer for birdie on 12, a six-footer for par on 13 and a 14-footer for birdie on 15.

McIlroy is now up to No. 4 in the world, and the former No. 1 hadn't been ranked that high in about a year and a half. He even was outside the top 10 for a bit. That was quite a fall for someone who had won four majors and, while not expected to challenge Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods, was often mentioned in the same sentence as them. And now he is again.

The Northern Irishman has joined the two legends as the only golfers with 15 PGA Tour wins and four majors before turning 30 (since the Masters began in 1934). He did it without much room to spare, as the St. Patrick's Day victory comes less than two months till McIlroy turns 30 on May 4. (McIlroy also won Bay Hill last year on St. Patrick's Day.)

Of course, the most iconic connection to Nicklaus and Woods – the career grand slam – is still on the table. While we'll see McIlroy next in two weeks at the WGC-Match Play in Austin, Texas, a tournament he won at a different track in 2015, it's less than a month now till the Masters. That's the only major missing from McIlroy's resume.

He has finished in the top 10 at Augusta five years running, but there has been, what else, incredible heartache for him there. 

Back in 2011, McIlroy was bidding to go wire-to-wire but shot 80 on Sunday and plummeted to 15th. And then there was last year when, in one of those seven recent final-group misses, he was paired with Patrick Reed, shot 2-over 74, tied for fifth and had a stinging front-row seat to Reed's celebration.

Which Rory will drive down Magnolia Lane next month? The star-crossed one we've grown conditioned to seeing at Augusta, or the superstar who just won at Sunday at TPC Sawgrass?

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Jim Furyk
Furyk did his best Ponce De Leon impersonation in Ponte Vedra Beach. While it was a surprise that he finished solo second in the strongest field we'll see the entire year, it should be no surprise he played well. Injury free and done with all the Ryder Cup responsibilities, the 48-year-old Furyk arrived with top-15s in half of his six events this season. And at a course we're staying out of trouble was more important than making birdies, the week set up nicely for Furyk. He played one of the best shots of his life, an approach from 171 yards on 18 that landed three feet from the cup. His kick-in birdie gave him the outright lead for a few, fleeting moments. Furyk zoomed from 167th in the world to 57th, thereby qualifying for the WGC-Match Play in two weeks. But be mindful, that could be a third straight week of action for Furyk, who also is entered in this week's Valspar.

Eddie Pepperell
The Englishman has been rising steadily in the world rankings, and he is now amid his first extended trip to the States. He tied for 67th at the WGC-Mexico and for 57th at Bay Hill, his first non-majors in North America. At THE PLAYERS, he did infinitely better. Pepperell blistered the back nine on Sunday to fly up the leaderboard to tie for third. The cold an windy conditions certainly suited the Euro, so keep that in mind going forward in PGA Tour events. But Pepperell could make some noise at the Match Play.

Jon Rahm
Rahm spun a brilliant 64 into the 54-hole lead, but has happened often, he couldn't withstand the brightest lights on golf's biggest stages. The Spaniard bogeyed three of the first four holes en route to a 4-over 76 and a tie for 12th. Plus, he had a bit of a meltdown on 11 after he didn't listen to his caddie and a poor decision landed his approach shot in the water. Rahm is still only 24, so we must keep that in mind. But even though he's 10th in the world (for now), he doesn't appear to be mentally and emotionally ready to close the deal in a big event. He admittedly has been working on that, and that day will come in time.

Abraham Ancer
Standing amid so many of the Sequoias of the PGA Tour – McIlroy, Rahm, Dustin Johnson, etc. – Ancer had a share of the lead early on Sunday. Three late bogeys relegated him to a tie for 12th, but there is no shame in the best showing of his PGA Tour career (Ancer won the Australian Open back in December). He has shown he's been coming for a while and, now up to No. 58 in the world, will face the big boys again at the Match Play.

Ollie Schniederjans
Sporting a new caddie and a new swing this season (but still hatless), Schniederjans tied for 16th – and that was after he lost a share of the lead with soul-crushing double and triple bogeys on the back nine. He hadn't had even a top-30 in seven months, since a T5 at the Barracuda in August, and had missed more than half his cuts this season. Not counting that opposite-field event, you have to go back more than a year to find a top-25, and it was a tie for third at Phoenix in 2018. Schniederjans climbed from 239th in the world to 205th. It could've been so much more. But this may be a launching point for one of the guys of the famed Class of '11 who so far has been left behind.

J.T. Poston
The 25-year-old North Carolinian has been very steady in 2019, albeit unspectacular. He had made seven straight cuts coming in, with one top-10 back in January at La Quinta. Poston tied for 22nd at Sawgrass, a very impressive showing considering the field. He was especially impressive in Sunday's difficult conditions – two birdies and 16 pars, one of only two bogey-free rounds on the day. Poston had seven bogeys on the week but – and this is key – no doubles. Whether he can come down from this high in just a few days, we shall see, but such steadiness should serve him well this week at the Valspar.

Daniel Berger
Berger is a former top-20 player who endured a lost 2018 thanks to injury. Now that's he's healthy, the expectations of a return to quality play have not quite materialized. Berger made the cut at THE PLAYERS, but it was just his fourth in seventh starts and he tied for 67th. Sure, he has a T12 at La Quinta and a runner-up at Puerto Rico, but those were weak fields, especially Puerto Rico, an opposite-field event. Berger is doing decently off the tee, but after that his game falls apart. He's way outside the top-100 in multiple strokes-gained stats: approach, around the green, putting, tee to green and total. Who knows, something may be up, as Berger pulled out of the Valspar on Monday morning.

Alex Noren
Noren decided to play the PGA Tour regularly for the first time last season. He started off splendidly. In his first nine events, he amassed three top-fives and four more top-25s. Since then, not so good, with the latest indicator being a missed cut at Sawgrass. Since finishing third at the 2018 Match Play, Noren has not managed a top-15 in 17 PGA Tour starts, 10 last season and seven so far in 2018-19 (in fairness, he did win a Euro event last summer, the French Open in a decent but not great field). In five starts in 2019, Noren has three missed cuts, a T44 and a T62. Something has gone terribly amiss for the 36-year-old Swede. Noren was in the first published field for the Valspar but pulled out on Monday morning.

Justin Harding
Just what golf needs: another quality Justin. Harding won the Qatar Masters two weeks ago to move to No. 52 in the world, and a runner-up last week at the Euro event in Kenya pushed him inside the top-50, to 48th. So not only will the South African be at the Match Play in two weeks, he has a good chance to hang on for a Masters invite in a month. He's 33 and has been around for some time, but he's never reached such heights before. At the beginning of 2018, Harding was outside the top-700 in the world, then won three times on the Sunshine Tour and once more in Asia before the year ended. While we shouldn't expect much from Harding in whatever big events he plays in the rest of the season, he wouldn't be the first guy to come out of nowhere on the other side of 30.