Rory McIlroy feels for Scottie Scheffler as he battles putting woes, but admits he’s also relieved that the world number one “is giving the rest of us a chance”.

The Holywood star was not quite at his best in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera and knows he has work to do to be ready for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill after closing with a one-under 70 to finish tied 24th on five-under-par, 12 strokes behind winner Hideki Matsuyama, who stunned everyone with a spectacular 62 to win by three.

McIlroy finished three shots behind Scheffler, who closed with a 68 to finish joint 10th on eight-under despite losing more than a shot a round to the field on the greens.

“We've all been through it,” McIlroy said of Scheffler, who was ranked second from tee to green but 51st for putting. “I've certainly been through my fair share of putting woes over the years and I finally feel like I have broken through and become a pretty consistent putter.

“For me going to a mallet was a was a big change. I really persisted with the blade putter for a long time, but I just feel like your stroke has to be so perfect to just start the ball online, where the mallet just gives you a little bit more margin for error.

“And that to me gave me confidence that I could go forward with that knowing that even if I don't put a perfect stroke on it, they're not going to go too far offline.

“So I'd love to see Scotty try a mallet, but selfishly for me, Scottie does everything else so well that he's given the rest of us a chance.”

“I’m close”

As for his week in LA, McIlroy was untouchable from the tee but he knows his iron play was only average in what is a great test of form for the Masters.

"I think I'm close. I'm not quite where I want to be," McIlroy said. "It's one of these courses where you got precision is so important and putting your ball in the right areas and if you're just slightly off your, you know, your weaknesses sort of get magnified this week."

Power move

As for Seamus Power, he took a huge step forward in his recovery from a hip injury when he finished just a shot behind McIlroy in joint 31st on four-under.

Down to 107th in the world heading after taking four months off at the end of 2023 following a niggling hip injury, the West Waterford man closed with a level par 71 to move up to 104th this morning.

It’s Power’s best result since he was forced to seek a cortisone injection in his hip, which started to bother him again during the tour’s two-week trip to Hawaii in January.

“It's been interesting on the west coast for me because we didn't we didn't really have an off-season,” Power said before the final round. “So it's kind of an off-season on the fly here, piecing it together a little bit, but getting there.”

The Tooraneena man (36) explained that his hip has been more of a problem than he had hoped when he returned to the tour in the New Year

“I didn't play much until really until Maui and then had a bit of a setback with it and had to get a cortisone shot after Sony,” he explained. 

“It's been great since. So now it's really getting there. It's not really bothering me at all anymore, which it did for the first couple of weeks in Hawaii.”

Hideki magic

Hideki Matsuyama produced a stunning back nine of 30 to close with a nine-under 62 and win the Genesis Invitational by three strokes from Will Zalatoris (69) and Luke List (68) on 17-under.

The Japanese star’s ninth PGA Tour win sees him overtake KJ Choi as the most successful Asian player on the PGA Tour and catapults the former Masters champion from 55th to 20th in the world.

He trailed Patrick Cantlay by six strokes entering the final round, the largest deficit faced through 54 holes by a winner on TOUR since Jon Rahm at the 2023 Sentry (7).

He birdied the first three holes and turned in 32, then birdied the 10th, 11th and 12th before striking the killer blow by hitting back-to-back iron shots to 8 inches and 6 inches at the 15th and 16th.

His six-iron to the 15th was sensational, but his face betrayed him at the 16th, and he admitted he’d pushed his tee shot 15 feet.

“On 15, tee shot, second shot, perfect shot. So I had a great momentum right there,” he said through an interpreter. “16 I hit it maybe like five yards to the right of my target, but it became a good shot. All is good.”

He’d also birdied the 17th to go nine-under for the day and leave the men in the final group too much to do to catch him as he made a three-footer for a closing par-three.

Overnight leader Cantlay started with nine pars and was overtaken by List and Zalatoris, eventually carding a one-over 72 to tie for fourth with Adam Hadwin (65) and Xander Schaufffele (70) on 13-under.

Slow week for Maguire in Saudi Arabia

On the Ladies European Tour, Leona Maguire shot a second successive two-over 74 to finish 18 strokes behind Thailand's Patty Tavatanakit in the Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented by PIF.

The Co Cavan star was just four behind at halfway after a brilliant 64 in round two but the putter failed to co-operate over the weekend.

Maguire finished tied 29th on level par as Tavatanakit fired a seven-under 65 to claim her first win since her Major win as a rookie at the 2021 ANA Inspiration.

The Thai star won by seven strokes from Germany’s Esther Henseleit to claim the €697,743 top prize - the largest on the LET outside the Majors - as a Maguire won €44,647.

In South Africa, France’s David Ravetto closed with a three-under 69 on the Montagu Course at Fancourt Golf Estate to win the Dimension Data Pro-Am by two shots from England’s Sam Hutsby on 15 under.

Conor Purcell was joint 17th on five-under after a 70 with Mark Power two shots further back in 34th after a 72.

Silver for Ireland’s women in Octagonal Matches

In amateur golf, Ireland lost 8-1 to hosts Spain A to claim silver in the Ladies Octagonal match at Costa Ballena on Saturday.

Captain Helen Jones was pleased after a week that brought big wins over France and Sweden, remarking: “It was a very good result for a first tournament.

“We had some of the women’s team and some of the girls’ potential team, so it was a good mixture. A good opportunity to get their season up and running.”

The team was a mixture of youth and experience.

Kate Lanigan (Hermitage) had a brilliant 1up win over Marta Aguilar Berenguer in the singles and remains in Spain with Mairead Martin (Kanturk), Annabel Wilson (Lurgan), Jess Ross (Clandeboye) and Olivia Costello (Roscommon) for the upcoming Spanish Amateur.

Lanigan and Martin formed the winning formula for most of the week in the Octagonal.

They fell to their first defeat in the foursomes against Spain, losing 2&1, while youngsters Costello and Caoimhe O’Grady (Royal Dublin) also lost out. Spain completed the clean sweep with Kate Dillon (Oughterard) and Anna Abom (Edmondstown) defeated.

Jones added: “Spain were on their home soil, they were probably a bit more match fit than we would be at this time of the year. They would probably have been playing a few tournaments whereas this is really our first tournament of the year. It was a very good result for a first tournament,” said Jones.

“And we will will take lots from this, it was good we had a mixture, we had some of the women’s team and some of the girls’ potential team, so it was a good mixture. A good opportunity to get their season up and running.

“It’s been a wet winter in Ireland and they have very good practise facilities and they were able to avail of that.”

Harrington 15th in weather-reduced Chubb Classic

On the PGA Tour Champions, Stephen Ames won the Chubb Classic by three shots from Rocco Mediate on 13-under after the final round was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Pádraig Harrington finished tied 15th on five-under at Tiburón in Florida and now plays back-to-back events on the PGA Tour — this week’s Mexico Open at Vidanta before seeking a third win in the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches (formerly the Honda Classic),