McIlroy and Lowry upbeat for Rome as Fox nicks BMW PGA
Ryan Fox celebrates his BMW PGA Championship win. Picture: Getty Image
Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy insist they will shrug off their Sunday disappointments at Wentworth and head to Rome next week feeling bullish about Europe's Ryder Cup hopes.
McIlroy might have been peeved not to birdie the last two holes, but his seven-under 65 and 12-under-par weekend saw him jump from the cut line to tied seventh behind New Zealander Ryan Fox, who overcame an early triple bogey seven and birdied the 18th to shoot 67 and win the BMW PGA Championship by a shot from English duo Tyrrell Hatton and Aaron Rai on 18-under-par.
Like McIlroy, who raced to within two shots of the lead by following a blistering 30 on the front nine with birdies at the 12th and 15th, or overnight leader Ludvig Aberg, who shot 76 to finish tenth, Lowry was left wondering what might have been before turning his thoughts to Rome.
He'd played superbly to get within a few shots of leader Hatton with four birdies in five holes from the ninth. But while his title defence was undone by an outlandish quadruple bogey nine at the 17th in a 71 that left him tied 18th, he's upbeat about his game and counting the hours to next Monday's team flight to Rome.
"I feel like that's just a very sour way to finish two weeks of my best golf this year; I'm not sure I'm even disappointed," a bewildered Lowry said after he returned from the weather delay to play his second from the right rough on the par-five 17th and saw it head left and ricochet off a tree, out of bounds. "It was a bit of a comedy of errors from there."
Lowry won't dwell on that, but focus on how well he's played since getting a wildcard from Luke Donald.
"I just need to keep doing what I'm doing," he said. "I'm very happy with the way I'm hitting the ball, the way I'm putting. Everything about my game is as good as it needs to be for Rome in two weeks."
With the big three of McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland all playing well, Lowry believes Europe has enough depth to back them up.
"If we can all roll in behind them and give them a handout the week of the Ryder Cup, I think we have a great chance," he said.
While McIlroy only scraped through the cut line, weekend rounds of 67 and 65 left him believing he's ready to "lead with my clubs" in Rome.
"Right now, I feel a little disappointed that I didn't birdie the last two holes," McIlroy said after finishing on 13-under and five adrift of the winning score. "But when you look at the weekend as a whole, to shoot 12 under and go from making the cut on the number to finishing in the top 10, it's a very solid two days of golf."
He added: "I still feel like there's a couple of things to work on and a couple of misses to iron out of my game... But apart from that, I feel like everything's in pretty good shape."
As for the tournament, Hatton took advantage of Aberg's final-day nerves and played his first 14 holes in six-under to head Fox by a shot.
But he drove out of bounds at the 15th as the hooter for dangerous weather sounded and while he returned and salvaged a bogey five, then birdied the last to shoot 66 set the target at 17-under, Fox finished off one of the great final rounds.
The big Kiwi recovered from his triple-bogey at the third with birdies at the sixth and eighth before reeling off five birdies in six holes from the ninth to head down the last needing a birdie to overhaul Hatton.
Playing partner Aaron Rai two-putted from 40 feet for birdie to make it a three-way tie on 17-under, but Fox took advantage of his 110-yard wedge to six feet and tickled home his birdie putt for his biggest career win.
“I'm immensely proud,” Fox said. “It's such an iconic tournament. I know Michael Campbell has won around here when it was the match play event and to add to that history here and create some of my own is very special.
“To have a back nine like that, especially after how I started the day, it's amazing. I played great. Pretty much didn't miss a shot from the third hole onwards and saw a couple of putts go in and it was a pretty cool feeling on the last to sort of know I had one to win and actually make it.
“I've got an almost three-year-old and a four-month-old standing over there and to have them here to support with a place pretty close by where we can stay at home this week just made the week.
“We have been through a pretty tough year as a family. We lost my father-in-law in June after a really, really short battle with cancer and that kind of rocked the family. It's been tough going back and forth. To come over here and have a good week in Ireland last week and this, I don't think I could have wished for better.
“I've done a lot of travel. I've played a bit in the States this year, and I think every time I've gone home, I've basically not touched my golf clubs. There's just been so much going on at home. To have the family up the last couple of weeks, a change of scenery has been fantastic. Just had a chance to refresh and it sort of made all the difference. Everything feels a bit more normal the last couple of weeks rather than just complete chaos.”
In the Open de Portugal, Dermot McElroy (73) tied for 27th on six-under, ten shots behind Marco Penge, while Castlewarden's Lauren Walsh shot 71 to tie for 13th in the LET's Swiss Ladies Open, eight shots behind Germany's Alexandra Forsterling.
