Clinical Simpson charges to RBC Heritage win; McIlroy 11 back as he heads to Hartford
Webb Simpson plays his tee shot at the 18th during the final round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy won’t be rushing back to Harbour Town to play competitive golf after finishing a distant 11 strokes behind a clinical Webb Simpson in the weather-delayed RBC Heritage.
The world No 1 began the final round five strokes off the lead but after following an early birdie four at the second with a visit to water and a double-bogey at the par-three fourth, hopes of a final-round charge faded and signed for a one-under 70 that left him tied for 41st on 11-under par.
It was McIlroy’s worst finish since he missed the cut in The Open 11 months ago and having finished tied 32nd on his return to action in the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial, he’s looking forward to getting back to terrain more suited to his skills for his third appearance in the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands this week
“Once I got here and I played the golf course, I sort of remembered why I haven't been here for a while,” McIlroy said of his first appearance at Harbour Town since 2009, when he failed to break par in any round and tied for 58th.
“It's tough. Like it's a lovely place. There's other courses on tour that probably fit my game a little bit better, and obviously the week after the Masters is always a tough one.
“Guys like to come here and decompress, but my idea of decompression is not seeing golf clubs for a week.”
Take that as an early admission that McIlroy won’t be back when the tournament returns to its traditional, post-Masters slot in 2021.
“Yeah, got off to a decent start, and then the ball in the water on 4 just sort of stopped any momentum,” he said of his round. “I played okay after that, I guess. I birdied 9 and then birdied a couple coming in on the home stretch.
“So it's fine. It's one of those weeks where, obviously, low scores, very bunched. You had to hole a lot of putts, and I didn't over the week. But I'm still pretty happy with how I played going into the next weekend in Hartford.”
That battle for the title was a tremendously entertaining affair, even if it came with weather delay of two hours and 46 minutes as lightning storms passed through the area.
England’s Tyrrell Hatton (28) and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer (29), who were joint overnight leaders with Simpson, had only been on the course for 25 minutes when play was suspended.
They were trying to chase down South African Dylan Frittelli, who set the target at 17-under with a career-low 9-under 62 that was one stroke shy of the course record.
As many as seven players were tied for the lead at one stage in the afternoon before it came down to a battle between Simpson, Ancer, Hatton, Daniel Berger, Sergio Garcia and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann.
Simpson (34) was two shots adrift of Ancer and Hatton turning for home but made nine birdies and five in his last seven holes in a seven-under 64 that took him to his seventh victory on 22-under.
Hatton’s title hopes faded when he bogeyed the 17th and tied for third with Berger on 20-under after a 66 but while Ancer made a two at the 17th to get within one of the lead, he couldn’t convert a 37 footer at the last and must wait a little longer for that maiden PGA Tour win.
“Honestly, the last kind of 10 holes were a blur because guys are making birdies, we're trying to finish before night comes,” said Simpson, who birdied the 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th to win on Father’s Day and go one better than his play-off defeat to Graeme McDowell at Harbour Town in 2013.
“And so, to finish with five birdies like that was really special, especially after going kind of yesterday and the first 10 holes, 11 holes today not making putts.
“To see the putts go in when I needed them, that was really fun to see the ball going in the hole.
“It's typically not a golf course where you can force it, but today after the storm, it softened things out, not much wind, we could go attacking,.
“Guys kept making birdies. I was blown away with the scores, but there I hit my run, 12 through 17, and ultimately that's what made the difference.”
Hatton was pleased to finish third in his first appearance since he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in March.
“Obviously, very happy with the tournament,” said Hatton. who moves up four spots to 16th in the world. “Having 13 weeks off and coming back, I wasn't really sure how my game was going to be. If you'd told me I was going to finish tied for third to start the week, I would have been more than happy with that.
”Obviously, I had a chance out there today. It's funny how this game can bite you at time. It was the best I've been at tee to green and the worst I've putted.”
Shane Lowry remains 22nd in the world despite back to back missed cuts while Graeme McDowell, who also missed the weekend in Forth Worth and Hilton Head, is down two places to 51st in the Officiai World Golf Ranking.
McIlroy, Lowry and McDowell will all be in action in the Travelers Championship this week while Seamus Power will play in the Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank on the Korn Ferry Tour.
