Rory McIlroy shot a 1-under 71 to secure the third leg of the career Grand Slam and his first Open Championship.
The facts and figures below, courtesy of the Golf Channel’s editorial research unit, spell out Rory’s place in major history, Sergio Garcia’s major waiting game, Rickie Fowler’s major consistency, Tiger Woods’ major struggles and more.
On Rory McIlroy:
This is McIlroy’s third major victory, following the 2011 U.S. Open and the 2012 PGA Championship.
At 25, McIlroy is only the fourth player ever to win multiple majors wire-to-wire with no ties, joining Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Ray Floyd. He’s also the youngest to do it.
Rory is the first European player ever to win three different major championships.
He is the fourth youngest player to win the Open and the youngest Open champion since the then-24-year-old Woods in 2000.
McIlroy’s 17-under par is the fourth-best score to par in Open Championship history, behind only Woods in 2000 (-19), Woods in 2006 (-18, also at Hoylake) and Nick Faldo in 1990 (-18).
On Rory, Jack and Tiger:
The only players in Rory McIlroy’s company at age 25 in the modern history of golf’s major championships are Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Those three are the only players at 25 or younger to …
• win a major by eight or more shots
• win a major at 16-under or better
• win three or more majors
• win three legs of career grand slam
Open Championship full-field scores
Open Championship: Articles, videos and photos
On Sergio Garcia:
Tied with Rickie Fowler for second place, Garcia claimed his fourth runner-up finish in a major and his second at the Open.
Sunday marked Garcia’s sixth top-3 finish in a major. Lee Westwood (8) is the only player with more top-3 finishes and without a major.
Speaking even further to his close calls, this is Garcia’s 10th career top-5 finish in a major and his 19th top-10.
His Sunday 66 tied lowest final round in a major.
On Rickie Fowler:
Fowler has now finished second in back-to-back majors, becoming the first to do s0 since Jason Day at the 2011 Masters and U.S. Open. Coincidentally, it was McIlroy who gave away the 2011 Masters before winning the U.S. Open.
After going T-5, T-2 and T-2, Fowler is the first player to finish in the top 5 of each of the year’s first three majors since Tiger Woods in 2005, except Tiger won two of the three.
Three of Fowler’s four major top 5s have come in 2014. The other was at the 2011 British.
On Tiger Woods:
At 6-over par, Woods finished 23 shots behind the champion, the furthest back he’s ever finished in a major.
Six-over par also represents Tiger’s second-to-worst score to par at the Open. He was 10-over, but actually T-7, in 1999.
Major championships held since Tiger’s last win at the 2008 U.S. Open: 25.
Woods, 38, has won more chance to win a major this season at the PGA before falling Nicklaus’ pace. Jack had 15 of his 18 by the age of 38.
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