Opinion | Repeat champion Rory McIlroy was the rock star the RBC Canadian Open and PGA Tour needed

In a fishbowl inside a soup bowl, Rory McIlroy, the star of the show at Toronto’s St. George’s Golf and Country Club, dazzled the masses on Sunday and won his second straight RBC Canadian Open in spectacular fashion.

Dressed for the occasion in aqua-coloured pants and a hot pink shirt, pastels that only svelte men can pull off on such a steaming hot day, McIlroy battled his playing partners — Justin Thomas wearing salmon, Tony Finau in lime — in a fabulous duel to the end.

Any of the three would have been a welcome winner. That McIlroy emerged victorious, successfully defending a PGA Tour title for the first time in his career, was surely what tournament and tour officials desired. More so given all that is going on in the golf world at present.

You could tell McIlroy really wanted this one. He always walks with a bounce in his step, his shoulders back and his chest out. But after rolling in a 26-footer for birdie on the first hole to take the lead on his own, and then ripping his drive 30 yards father than those of Thomas and Finau on the second, there was a sense that he would not be denied on this day.

He had that look.

“I’ve been up against J.T. quite a bit in the past, and he’s gotten the better of me a couple of times. So I knew I had to play really good to beat him,” McIlroy said. “Tony as well. Tony played incredible golf today, too. So that was a big part of it.

“I think going up against the best and beating the best always makes it extra special.”

From the third through the 12th, McIlroy made seven birdies and one bogey. Thomas and Finau didn’t back down, with Thomas circling six straight numbers on his scorecard at one point and Finau making a half-dozen birdies on the day himself. Up ahead, Justin Rose made a run at 59 and Listowel, Ont.’s Corey Conners fired an 8-under 62 to rocket up the leaderboard, eventually finishing sixth.

Indeed, St. George’s laid down on this day. After holding its own and providing a major-like test through 54 holes, the course was soft and attackable given overnight rain.

But that was OK. Sunday fireworks were what fans came here to see; some even provided a few of their own.

Rory roared ahead by three with another birdie on 12, but he followed that with a bogey on 13, missing a shorty to shock onlookers. Thomas then birdied 14 to pull within one, and when McIlroy bogeyed the rowdy Rink Hole 16th, the two headliners were tied standing on the 17th tee with Finau one behind.

The par-4 penultimate hole at St. George’s is a monster assignment at nearly 500 yards, but these guys make it shorter by airmailing a massive red oak tree at the corner of its dogleg. To do so is an aggressive play that occasionally leads to tee shots leaked right. Thomas did exactly that, and it proved his undoing.

He could not reach the green from the thick rough in which his ball settled and he did not get up and down for par. When McIlroy made birdie, ensuring the two-shot swing, the tournament was all but over.

At least in terms of who would win.

The scene on 18 was outrageous. After McIlroy hit yet another wonderful approach shot, this time to four feet, thousands of fans rushed to within a few feet of the green. Some even tromped into a cavernous bunker, forcing police and security into action.

McIlroy compared it to the 2018 Tour Championship that Tiger Woods won. McIlroy, playing with Woods that day, was an “afterthought” then, he said. This time, he was the guy the crowd was trying to encroach on. It was a small scar on an otherwise amazing atmosphere.

“The fans here this week have just been absolutely unbelievable,” said McIlroy, who tapped in that birdie putt at the last to finish at 19-under, two clear of runner-up Finau with Thomas third. “Like, so good and so cool to play in an atmosphere like that. Boisterous, loud, but respectful. It was really, really cool.”

As the champion mentioned in the press room, his 21st PGA Tour victory puts him one ahead of the career mark of Greg Norman, LIV Golf’s frontman. McIlroy has shouldered much of the load when it comes to flying the PGA Tour flag in the face of the upstart series bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. It is clear he is not a big fan of the Australian great, or at least what Norman is doing.

However, McIlroy is only tied with Norman when it comes to Canadian Open victories. Norman won the tournament twice at Glen Abbey, in 1984 and 1992.

Which is a good thing for this tournament. Because you better believe that will provide McIlroy even more motivation when he goes for the three-peat next year.

Jason Logan is the editor of SCOREGolf Magazine and is based in Toronto. He is a contributor to the Star’s Sports section. Follow him on Twitter: @jasonSCOREGolf

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