RORY McILROY WINS AGAIN IN UNITED STATES PLAY-OFFS

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE 

By JAMES CORRIGAN

Seven days, two titles, one extraordinary young golfer. Rory McIlroy once again put Lee Westwood and the rest of the game’s best in their place at Crooked Stick on Sunday night with his second win in a week and his third in four events. 

And on this emphatic evidence of this, a two-shot win over the Englishman and Phil Mickelson, McIlroy will soon be putting $10m in its place – straight into his bank account. On Sunday night the world No 1 was celebrating his first back-to-back victories in a career which becomes more exciting by the swing, by the day, by the tournament.

After lifting the Deutsche Bank Championship title in Boston on the Monday, the Northern Irishman lifted the BMW Championship in Indianapolis on the Sunday. He was 40-under for the two events; this particular 20-under total owing much to the final-round 67, which meant his last eight rounds have been sub-70.

McIlroy sits atop the FedEx Cup rankings with the finale and its outrageous winning bonus beckoning in 10 days’ time. But this meant so much more than money, so much more than the $2.9m he collected in one amazing week. When he peered down the names below, McIlroy felt immense pride.

“I’m on a great run at the minute,” said McIlroy, who began this staggering run with last month’s USPGA procession.

“I actually had to scramble a bit here, but drove it beautifully today. It’s great to be able to win events like this when the quality is so good.”

It seemed appropriate that golf’s finest topped one of golf’s finest leader boards. While McIlroy and Westwood went at it like two heavyweights, prizefighters of the quality of Tiger Woods, Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Vijay Singh threw their own shots. But as hard as they tried none of them could bring down this 23-year-old.
Despite Mickelson arriving late to snatch a tie for second, Westwood came closest in his 69, producing a succession of sumptuous approach shots and keeping pace with McIlroy until the 13th. But then McIlroy simply pulled away, with birdies on the 15th on the 16th, in the almost nonchalant style of a certain rival who was left in a tie for fourth. “Rory’s putting on a show out there,” said Woods, who must have felt like he was watching a repeat.
Few people would have been more delighted to witness an all-UK showdown than the Europe Ryder Cup captain, Jose Maria Olazabal. 
He knew all about the rude state of McIlroy’s form, but in Westwood he has another world-class operator who is clearly peaking. At eighth in the FedEx rankings, Westwood, himself, still has a shot at the $10m
The good news for Olazabal goes on and on. Earlier in the day, Peter Hanson defied fatigue as well as the most alarming of distractions to win the KLM Open at Hilversum, Holland. The Dane was on the brink of withdrawing on Friday after his one-year-old son, Tim, was rushed to a hospital near the family home in Orlando with a respiratory illness.
Hanson was persuaded by his wife and the medics to continue and despite staying awake more of Friday night as he kept in touch with the hospital, he managed to shoot a pair of 67s to beat Scotland’s Riche Ramsay and Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal by two shots. “I'm very happy,” said Hanson. “Tim’s getting better and better.” 

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