Rory McIlroy

Birdie on 17th enough to secure first PGA Tour title for Kurt Kitayama.

“I went south on nine (with the triple bogey) and just fought back hard, I am proud of myself for that,” said Kitayama. A number of players, not just McIlroy, will reflect on what might have been. Viktor Hovland on putting his approach to the 16th into the water.

McIlroy missed a ten-foot birdie putt on the final green to post the clubhouse lead at nine-under-par.

He reached the par-five 16th hole in two to set up a birdie and regain a share of the lead, but Kitayama, whose round included a triple-bogey on the par four 9th hole, would not be denied. But the Holywood man came fighting back with a string of birdied and was on the lead when standing on the par three 14th hole. McIlroy missed a ten-foot birdie putt on the final green to post the clubhouse lead at nine-under-par.

The Holywood golfer led the tournament at one stage on Sunday but eventually lost out to Kurt Kitayama.

The American posted pars in eight of the last nine holes, with his birdie at 17 proving the difference. Kitayama carded a level-par final round of 72, and made his decisive move on the 17th hole with a birdie two. Another bogey at seven was erased with a birdie at the ninth, with McIlroy approaching the turn on level par for the day and seven under for the tournament. A birdie at the 16th raised McIlroy's hopes once more but he couldn't find any more joy in the final two holes, edging a birdie putt just past the hole on the 18th to finish the tournament on -8. Three more birdies in the opening four holes in the back nine saw McIlroy surge into the lead, but back-to-back bogeys on 14 and 15 stalled his progress. McIlroy bogeyed the opening two holes on Sunday, but recovered with two birdies on the fourth and fifth holes.

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On the par-5 15th, McIlroy hit his drive way left, but it found a tree and fell down into gnarly rough. “If I look back on today the one thing I'll rue is the tee shot on 14,” McIlroy said. McIlroy subsequently produced his worst swing of the day, one he desperately wishes he could have back.

Rory McIlroy, as he walked off the green on Bay Hill's par-3 14th, stared back toward the tee. To the left of it was a big electronic leaderboard.

For the week, he was solid in the Strokes Gained metrics — 12th in Off the Tee (3.553); fifth in Tee to Green (9.709); 20th in Approach the Green (2.762); eighth in Around the Green (3.393) — though just 40 in Putting (0.713) The second is his second top five finish of his year, following a win in January at the He birdied 16 to pull into a share of the lead at eight-under, and he had a 10-footer for birdie on 18, but only Kitayama reached nine-under. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. On the par-5 12th, he was home in two and two-putted. On the par-4 13th, he rolled in a 21-footer. He had been a whopping six shots out of the lead when he started the run, and now was one up with five to play. On both the par-4 9th and par-4 10th, he hit second shots to 7 feet. He bogeyed, and he bogeyed 15 after he hooked his tee shot off a tree and darted his second shot, from thick rough, only 125 yards. And he said he would have played the hole more conservatively to protect his then-one-shot-lead. And McIlroy tried to hammer an 8-iron into the 190-yard hole, slightly slipped on his downswing and hooked his ball into a left greenside bunker. And that, he admitted, was a mistake. To the left of it was a big electronic leaderboard.

Rory McIlroy believes his game is showing signs of progress ahead of The Players after narrowly missing out on victory and a return to world No 1 at the ...

"I ended up making bogey there and then a bad swing off the tee on 15 and a bogey. "I still gave myself a chance after a few pretty bad mistakes on the front nine, but Kurt [Kitayama] played fantastic golf today. "I birdied 13 and got on to 14 tee and I honestly thought I was still like one or two behind the lead. If I had of known that, I wouldn't have tried to play the shot that I played on 14, which was unfortunate. "I need to take the positives from it, which there is a lot of. "I still wish I could have had a couple of shots back today, but I guess everyone would say the same thing," McIlroy said.