He came, he saw, he conquered. Rory McIlroy examined the RBC Canadian Open trophy closely, reading the names to himself, soaking in the history of the 110-year old championship.

 

 

 

 

His name will be the next one etched on to the trophy's silver surface after he fired a 9-under 61 on Sunday for a dominant seven-shot win. McIlroy joins Tiger Woods, Lee Trevino, Tommy Armour, Walter Hagen and Arnold Palmer as the only players in golf history to win the U.S., British and Canadian Opens, the three oldest championships on the PGA Tour

 

 

"Just looking at some of the names, even on just this side of the trophy, Sam Snead, Bobby Locke, Arnold Palmer, Tigers Woods, Nick Price, some of the greats of the game have won this trophy," said McIlroy. "So for me to put my name on this is something special."

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it was announced in March that McIlroy would play in this year's Canadian Open — his first time playing a competitive round here — the North Irishman made it clear he wanted it to be the sixth national title in his trophy case.

 

 

 

Simpson (68) fell into a tie for second with Shane Lowry (67). Kuchar (70) and Snedeker (69) tied for fourth at 13 under. Lowry will move 54 spots up the FedEx Cup standings, putting him in a solid position to retain his PGA Tour card another year. "I think I more less got my card back," said Lowry. "I don't know what golf Rory is playing today, but it was just incredible."

 

 

 

 

 

There was a silver lining for Graeme McDowell and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., who both qualified for the British Open by virtue of their top-10 finishes.

 

"Obviously very proud to have got one of the Open Championship spots and get that little monkey off my back and let me go and play some golf the next few weeks," said McDowell, who now gets to play at his hometown course at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland July 18-21.

 

 

Day 1: Rory McIlroy begins well, Dustin stumbles as Keegan Bradley leads at Canadian Open

Day 2: Brandt Snedeker creates history as Kuchar, Brown share lead at the Canadian Open

Day 3: Rory McIlroy storms the leaderboard, eyes victory at his debut tournament - Canadian Open 

 

CBA.CA