Sergio Garcia Claims Ninth PGA Tour Win, Rory McIlroy Wins Irish Open, Jordan Spieth is Struggling

Sergio Garcia won his first PGA Tour tournament on Sunday at the AT&T Byron Nelson since winning the Wyndham Championship in 2012. Garcia beat Brooks Koepka after a one hole playoff. After Koepka sent his drive sailing left into the water on the 18th, the only hole of the playoff, Sergio stepped up and piped his driver right down the middle. The win also put the 36-year-old Garcia in a tie with Seve Ballesteros for the most PGA Tour wins by a Spaniard. That is pretty freaking impressive to say the least.

Cause for Concern?

One of the biggest takeaways from Sunday was the play of Jordan Spieth. Spieth was in the final group on Sunday when he recorded a four-over 74 that included a birdie on the 18th hole. It’s clear that Spieth, who shot 64-65-67 in the first three rounds, is suffering from something up top and is clearly fighting his own golf swing as Peter Kostis points out in the video below.

Spieth said of his driving after the third round:

Via ASAP Sports:

"“I was in some really, really tough spots and was a very stressful round of golf to play because I just don’t have confidence over the ball right now. It’s very frustrating and actually putting incredible to still be in this tournament…. I’m looking for boring golf tomorrow, back to those I hit 33 out of 36 greens the first two days. Something like that would be nice, especially the way I feel on the greens.”"

After his final round, Spieth said of going from the final group to a tie for 18th (Via ASAP Sports):

"“Frustration, yeah. Frustration with today. I mean don’t go from the final group in second place alone and finish in 18th and there’s not many positives you’ll be able to take out of that other than the last hole I played I made birdie. That’s nice.”"

Yeah, I mean that’s clearly no way to close a tournament and there’s obviously a little cause for concern with only three tournaments left before the U.S. Open. Spieth has opened his last four tournaments with scores of 67-66-72-64. His highest finish in that time came at the Masters, and we all know what happened in that final round on Sunday.

It’s not like Spieth is finishing in the middle of the pack either; other than missing the cut at the Players, he still finished T13, T2, and T18 in those four tournaments, but since the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in January, Spieth’s highest finish is that T2 at Augusta. His next highest finish in his last nine events was a tie for ninth at the WGC-Dell Match Play. Spieth is scheduled to play in both the Dean & Deluca Invitational and the Memorial tournament before the U.S. Open, and hopefully we’ll see better finishes in those two events from the young star.

Kyle Porter summed up Spieth’s round with this tweet.

Brutal.

Rory Coming!

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy closed out a win at the Irish Open in spectacular fashion finishing at 12-under, four-strokes ahead of Russell Knox and Bradley Dredge.

The confidence McIlroy exhibited down the stretch is something that we haven’t seen from Spieth lately, and heading into the U.S. Open, it could mean the difference in whether or not we see a repeat for the defending champion. On the final hole of the Irish Open, McIlroy stepped up and smashed a 253 yard approach shot that stopped about two feet from the hole.

If this is the current state of McIlroy’s game, look out. In his last six events on the PGA Tour, McIlroy has finishes of T3, T27, 4, T10, T4, and T12. It feels like he’s on the verge of breaking through a wall he hit after injuring himself last season.

Here are a few highlights from McIlroy’s final round thanks to the European Tour.

Chasing Day.

Both McIlroy and Spieth are still chasing world number one Jason Day, who, as we all know, is on fire right now. McIlroy hasn’t missed a cut since February at The Honda Classic, Spieth missed the cut at the Players just two weeks ago, in that time, Jason Day has won three tournaments, missed zero cuts, and has finishes of T23, 1, 1, T10, T23, T5, and 1. Day is still a 15/2 favorite to win the U.S. Open, with Rory and Jordan right behind him at 17/2, but it feels like one of those three is on a different planet right now.

Ryder Cup?

All you need to know.