McIlroy's Dramatic Win + Grant Breaks Through | Sunday Swing

Welcome back to the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. The golf season is really starting to ramp up as we approach the playoffs and this week the PGA Tour and DP World Tour were in Scotland for the Scottish Open ahead of next week’s Open Championship. The PGA Tour also hosted an alternate event in the Barbasol Championship, while the LPGA Tour was in Ohio for the Dana Open.  

Genesis Scottish Open - Tournament History 

The Scottish Open was established in 1972 and is one of five tournaments that are a part of the “Rolex Series” which is essentially a designated event on the DP World Tour. It has been played at a variety of Scottish links courses, but most recently came to the Renaissance Club in North Berwick in 2019. The course is a 7300 yard par 70 placed along the coast of Northern Scotland. Played a week ahead of The Open Championship, the field is a mix between the best of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. These players can expect typical Scottish weather which usually features blustering winds, cloudy skies, and no shortage of rain.

The Big Swing 

This week the Big Swing goes to the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy who earned his 24th career PGA Tour victory on Sunday. McIlroy has historically played links golf very well due to his ability to flight the ball low and hit every type of shot imaginable, and this week was no exception. As the world No. 3 and having not won in the 2023 calendar year, golf fans were becoming anxious to see him win once again. To do so, he would have to take down the likes of defending champ Xander Schauffele, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and more. 

Players were greeted with relatively benign conditions on Thursday and they took advantage, firing some low scores. McIlroy opened with an impressive round of 64, but still found himself trailing South Korean Byeong-Hun An who fired a 61 to open the week and lead after the first round. On Friday, McIlroy kept pushing forward and carded a 66, while An shot even par and Englishmen Tyrrell Hatton went low shooting 62 to vault up the leaderboard. Scottie Scheffler was in the mix as always, having opened with rounds of 68, 65, and 67. 

Meanwhile, left-handed Scotsman Robert MacIntyre (also known as “Bobby Mac”) who opened with 67, 69, and then shot 66 on Saturday getting himself into contention. As the most prominent Scottish golfer in the world, MacIntyre became a fan favorite over the weekend. Just a few weeks ago, Canadian Nick Taylor won the Canadian Open in dramatic fashion. Now MacIntyre was in position to win his national open -- an event he's dreamed about winning since his youth. 

On Sunday, the tee times were moved up to the morning due to some potentially unplayable winds in the afternoon. Despite the moved tee times, the winds were still ferocious. But it didn't stop MacIntyre from going low. On a day where the average score was well over par, Bobby Mac stood on the 18th tee at -5 for the day and -13 for the championship. McIlroy, playing a hole behind MacIntyre, struggled to a two-over 37 on the front nine, but birdies at 11 and 14 to jump back into share of the lead. With both players coming down the stretch on the back nine, it was a two-horse race between McIlroy and MacIntyre.

MacIntyre's tee shot on the par-4 18th, playing dead into the wind with a scoring average of 0.68 shots over par for the day, sliced way offline. Fortunately, the ball nestled into an area of rough trampled down by the gallery. From 213 yards, MacIntyre chose to play a cut 3-wood into the wind -- and played it to perfection, leaving himself with just a few feet for birdie. He converted, taking the solo lead at -14 with McIlroy still on the course.

The stage was set. McIlroy needed one birdie to force a playoff, or two to win. The par-3 17th hole was playing 191 yards and McIlroy hit a swooping draw that scooted up and settled just four feet from the hole. After converting to tie the lead, he would now have an opportunity to win it in regulation if he could birdie the difficult 18th hole. After his drive found the first cut of left rough, McIlroy faced over 200 yards to the hole. After switching clubs and shot types at the last second, he hit a low-flighted 2-iron underneath the wind that ended up about 10 feet from the cup. McIlroy then canned the birdie putt, capping a dramatic fashion and securing his first career victory in Scotland. 

Winner’s Bag - Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy has been one of the elite ball-strikers in golf for over a decade, which is why he's routinely near the top leaderboards at the biggest events in golf. He brought his 'A' game to Scotland, which put him in position to win the Scottish Open in dramatic fashion with an epic birdie on the 72nd hole. Off the tee, McIlroy was superb thanks to his TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus Driver (9 degrees). He pairs that with matching Stealth 2 Plus 3-wood in the bag that he plays at 15 degrees. His irons are super unique, and this week a tweak was made at the top of the set. The club he used to stuff his approach on the 18th hole on Sunday was a new TaylorMade P760 2-iron (17 degrees). He also has a P760 4-iron in his bag. The remainder of the set are custom TaylorMade Rors Proto irons (5-9). Fueling his wedge game is a set of four TaylorMade Milled Grind wedges. On the greens, Rory is back using his TaylorMade Spider X putter.  

In the World of Women’s Golf

This week on the LPGA Tour, on the heels of the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, the best ladies in the game headed to Slyvania, Ohio for the Dana Open. The leaderboard on Sunday was highlighted by some big names including Minjee Lee and last week’s U.S. Open champion Allisen Corpuz, along with Maria Fassi, Aditi Ashok, and another young Swede, Linn Grant. Grant played with the lead the entirety of Sunday thanks to opening rounds of 64, 69, and 62, which left the rest of the field chasing. Grant didn’t need anything super special on Sunday, but closing out your first win at age 24 probably ramps the pressure up a notch or two.

After a bogey-free, front-nine 33, Grant made the turn and tacked on a couple more birdies at 11 and 13 which really gave her a cushion. Even with a bogey at 14 and Corpuz doing everything she could to go back-to-back (including a run of birdies at 11, 14, 15, 17, and 18) Grant was able to coast to the finishing hole with a two-shot lead where she would close with another birdie and a tournament score of 263 (-21). Corpuz would finish runner-up at -18, followed by Lindy Duncan (-15), and Xiyu Lin and Stephanie Kyriacou at -14.  

Winner's Bag - Linn Grant

Linn Grant entered the week at the Dana Open without a win on the LPGA Tour. But you wouldn't know it based on how she played throughout the entire week. She quickly raced to the top of the leaderboard, and then fired a 62 on Saturday to build a six-shot lead entering the final round. The 24-year-old Swede ultimately finished at 21-under-par for the tournament, good for a three shot win over U.S. Women's Open champion Allisen Corpuz. Grant plays an entire bag of PING clubs, including a G430 LST driver, G425 LST 3-wood, G400 hybrids, i210 irons, Glide Forged Pro wedges, and a PLD Prime Tyne putter.