Verbal blows from McIlroy, defending champion Billy Horschel and Ian Poulter were traded early on during the tournament week before the passing of Queen Elizabeth II forced play to be suspended on Thursday and Friday. As a result, the DP World Tour shortened the event to 54 holes, a main selling point for LIV Golf, the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-funded series that has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record.
So if you haven’t already, make your joke about 54 holes now.
Before the event, LIV Golf wished good luck to 15 of its players in the field, leaving off Justin Harding, who competed in the first three LIV events, and Pablo Larrazabal, who participated in LIV’s first event in London. Two players finished inside the top five, six inside the top 20, three missed the cut and one player withdrew (then wound up at the Alabama-Texas game on Saturday).
Here’s how each LIV player finished at the 2022 BMW PGA Championship.
Shane Lowry gave an embrace to his friend Rory McIlroy as the latter strolled into the scoring tent.
“I don’t know how that missed,” Lowry said to McIlroy, referencing the 2022 FedEx Cup Champion’s eagle putt on the 18th hole at Wentworth Club in Surrey, England. Lowry missed an eagle only minutes earlier, instead tapping in for birdie to take the clubhouse lead at 17 under.
McIlroy needed his putt to tie. It crept ever so close to the hole and came to a stop, seemingly staring inside the cup from the right edge. He knocked in the birdie, but it wasn’t enough.
Lowry was victorious after a brilliant final round 7-under 65 to capture the 2022 BMW PGA Championship, the DP World Tour’s flagship event. Lowry was two shots back when the day began of overnight leaders Viktor Hovland and Soren Kjeldsen, but his birdie on the final hole, a par 5, gave him a one-shot victory over McIlroy and Jon Rahm, whose 8-under 29 (with a bogey) on the back nine Sunday propelled him into the clubhouse lead for the majority of the day.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts after their putt for an eagle on the 18th hole stops short during the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club on September 11, 2022 in Virginia Water, England. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
“It has been a good year. I’ve felt like I’ve been close a few times,” Lowry said. “I love it here. I’ve contended here in the past. I’m so happy.”
Rahm shot a 10-under 62 in the final round, but he had five birdies and two eagles on his back nine to take the clubhouse lead until Lowry’s closing birdie. Lowry, meanwhile, eagled the par-5 fourth hole to begin his day and then made five birdies on the way in.
Lowry played all three rounds without recording a bogey. He became the first Irishman, and second all-time, to win the BMW PGA Championship since Harry Bradshaw in 1958.
McIlroy, meanwhile, shot 5 under in the final round to finish at 16 under for the tournament, which was reduced to 54 holes following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. He also narrowly missed a birdie on the par-5 17th hole that would’ve gotten him to 16 under and in a tie for the lead.
McIlroy was in the fairway on the 18th when Lowry carded his birdie to take the outright lead. He knew an eagle was needed, hitting a 4-iron from 242 yards to 23 feet, 6 inches.
Yet his eagle putt came up just short, giving his good friend Lowry his first victory since the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in 2019.
Talor Gooch finished solo fourth at 15 under. Before the leaders teed off, Patrick Reed completed a 9-under 63 to take the clubhouse lead at 14 under, but he finished in a tie for fifth with Hovland, Kjeldsen and Thomas Detry.
