GOLF

asking a lot for McIlroy to drop a shot on the par-5 closing hole. McIlroy laid back off the tee, played short of the green and hit wedge to the back pin to assure a two-putt par and another trophy.

Part of him was sparked by a disappointing Ryder Cup, when he didn’t win a point until Sunday singles when it was too late and was choked up with emotion talking about it.

He wanted to get back to his roots as a player, and it worked out just fine against a strong field that allowed McIlroy to move from No. 15 in the world to back among the top 10.

“Being me is enough,” he said. “Being me can let me

do things like this.”

Keith Mitchell, who had a five-shot lead going into the weekend until a 73 in the third round, closed with a 67 and tied for third with Fowler.

Fowler was poised to end a 32-month drought by starting the final round with a two-shot lead and looking as though he was intent on finishing it off. He made an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 4 that became a twoshot swing when McIlroy had a careless three-putt bogey.

That began to change on the par-5 sixth. From the middle of the fairway, Fowler pulled a fairway metal into the desert, took a penalty drop, and then three-putted from 35 feet for a double bogey. McIlroy made birdie and just like that they were tied, along

with others farther along in the round.

Talor Gooch holed out for eagle on the par-5 18th for a 62. Morikawa went out in 29 and was tied for the lead. Robert Streb also was tied for the lead at that point at 21-under par.

McIlroy and Fowler in the final group were tied at 22 under going to the back when Fowler made another mistake.

McIlroy was looking at potential bogey, coming out of a fairway bunker well short of the green on the 10th and facing a tough flop shot over another bunker to a tight pin. Fowler had 18 feet for birdie. McIlroy hit to inches away for par, while Fowler gunned his birdie chance some 5 feet by the hole and missed that for a three-putt bogey.

Fowler never caught up.