Shane Lowry of Ireland birdied the par-5 18th hole at Wentworth Club on Sunday to win the BMW PGA Championship, the flagship DP World Tour event in Surrey, England.
The tournament was delayed Thursday due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II and shortened to 54 holes. Lowry’s 7-under-par 65 in Sunday’s third and final round got him to 17-under 199, one stroke better than Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Jon Rahm of Spain.
Lowry missed an eagle putt at No. 18 and tapped in for birdie for the outright lead. McIlroy later came to the final hole at 15 under for the event and had an eagle putt to force a playoff with Lowry, but it came to the lip of the hole and didn’t drop.
Lowry made it all three rounds without recording a bogey. He got an early boost by making a 10-foot eagle putt at the par-5 fourth before five birdies, the last of which ended up winning the event.
McIlroy, who won the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour last month, shot a final-round 67.
Earlier in the day, Rahm fired a 10-under 62 to set the clubhouse lead at 16 under. He made eagles at the par-5 12th and 18th to manage an 8-under 29 on the back nine despite one bogey.
Talor Gooch (67 Sunday) finished in fourth place at 15 under, and Patrick Reed (63) tied for fifth with Norway’s Viktor Hovland (70), Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen (70) and Belgium’s Thomas Detry (69).
Gooch and Reed were among the several members of LIV Golf welcomed to the event by the DP World Tour, something Lowry and others criticized earlier tin the week. Lowry got the opportunity to take a parting shot at the controversial, Saudi-financed tour and its players.
“I made no secrets as to how I felt about the whole thing at the start of the week,” Lowry told reporters after his victory. “I wanted to go out and win this tournament for myself, first and foremost. But I think for this tour and everyone that’s stayed loyal to this tour and everyone that’s done everything for this tour, I feel like this is one for the good guys.”
–Field Level Media
