CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Rory McIlroy was more methodical than electrifying Sunday.
It was still effective.
Leaderboard
Sunday’s final scores Par 72, 7,562 yards
267 (-21), $1,278,000
Rory McIlroy .......................70-67-61-69
274 (-14), $624,800
Patrick Rodgers ..................68-68-70-68
Webb Simpson ...................67-67-68-72
Always in control, the top-ranked McIlroy became the first two-time winner in the Wells Fargo Championship with a seven-shot victory over Webb Simpson and Patrick Rodgers.
McIlory closed with a 3-under 69 to finish at 21-under 267, shattering the tournament record by five strokes. He entered the day with a four-stroke lead over Simpson after a course-record 61 on Saturday.
"Everything is firing on all cylinders for me," McIlroy said.
McIlroy also won Match Play Championship two weeks ago in San Francisco and has 11 PGA Tour titles. He has six top-10 finishes in his last eight PGA Tour starts.
McIlroy won at Quail Hollow in in 2010 for his first PGA Tour title, shooting 15 under. Anthony Kim set the previous tournament record of 16 under in 2008.
"The golf course just sets up really well for me," McIlroy said.
Phil Mickelson called McIlroy's performance this week "impressive."
McIlroy had another word to describe his play on the back nine.
"Boring," he said with a laugh.
Rodgers, playing on a sponsor exemption, was the only player to mount any type of a challenge, getting within three shots after a birdie at No. 15. But there was too much ground to make up, and he played the final two holes in 3-over and finished with a 68. Rodgers was the medalist at the 2013 Western Amateur that was held at The Alotian Club in Roland but lost in the first round of match play to eventual runner-up Sean Dale.
McIlroy almost didn't play at Quail Hollow this week, but decided he needed to play more because he needed the FedEx Cup points after the Masters.
The victory moved him into third place in the standings.
McIlroy got off to a shaky start with a three-putt bogey on No. 2 -- his first in 167 holes -- but quickly pulled it together. He didn't have another bogey until the 17th hole, when he had built a seven-stroke lead and outcome was already decided.
Simpson failed to capitalize on McIlroy's early mistake, shooting 37 on the front nine that included a double bogey on the par-3 sixth when he three-putted from 8 feet. That dropped the Charlotte resident six shots back and he was never in contention again.
"He's our best player right now and I wish more than anything I could have shot a couple under on the front to make it more exciting," Simpson said. "Just didn't have it today."
McIlroy reached 20 under on No. 12 when he knocked his approach shot from 132 yards to 2 feet of the cup for a tap-in birdie and it looked as if he might coast the rest of the way.
But Rodgers, who earned his first top-25 finish on the PGA Tour, made it interesting when he played a seven-hole stretch in 6-under par, sparked by an eagle on the par-5 10th hole. But McIlroy didn't flinch when Rodgers drained a 15-foot putt on No. 15 to pull within three shots of the lead.
Instead, McIlroy countered by rolling in a birdie putt on his own on No. 14, moving to 21 under and regaining a four-shot cushion.
McIlroy then put an exclamation point on the victory by drilling his approach shot from 145 yards to 3 feet on No. 16 for his tournament-record 27th birdie.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
Maggert wins first major
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Jeff Maggert won the Regions Tradition for his first Champions Tour major title, beating Kevin Sutherland with a 3-foot par putt on the first hole of a playoff.
Sutherland two-putted for bogey to set up Maggert for the winning par on the 18th hole at Shoal Creek.
Maggert closed with an even-par 72 to match Sutherland at 14-under 274. Sutherland had a 71.
LPGA TOUR
Final round suspended
WILLIAMSNURG, Va. — Minjee Lee played a five-hole stretch in 5 under to open a four-stroke lead Sunday when final-round play was suspended because of darkness in the LPGA Tour’s Kingsmill Championship.
After making an eagle on the par-5 15th to cap the five-hole run, the 18-year-old Australian was on the par-4 16th when the horn sounded. She hit her approach to the green, but opted to mark the ball and finish the hole when play resumes at 8 a.m. Central today on Kingsmill Resort’s River Course.
Lee was 7 under in a 10-hole stretch after a 2-hour rain delay to reach 16 under.
Alison Lee was alone in second with four holes to play. Former champion Suzann Pettersen was the only one in a five-way tie for third at 10 under to finish. She shot 68. Perrine Delacour, Paula Creamer, So Yeon Ryu and Hyo Joo Kim also were 10 under.
Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) completed her final round, shooting a 3-under 68 to finish 3 under for the tournament.
WEB.COM TOUR
Pampling's 5 under enough
GREER, S.C. -- Australia's Rod Pampling won the Web.com Tour's BMW Charity Pro-Am, finishing with a 5-under 66 for a 25-under 261 total.
Pampling, 45, opened with consecutive 9-under 63s at The Reserve at Lake Keowee and Green Valley Country Club and shot a 69 on Saturday at Thornblade Club -- also the site of the final round.
Glen Day shot a 1-under 71 and finished 14 strokes behind Pampling to win $2,435. Tag Ridings (Arkansas Razorbacks) had a 1-0ver 72 on Sunday for 270 total. He won $1,721 for his finish.
PGA EUROPEAN TOUR
Morrison closes strong
TERRASSA, Spain -- England's James Morrison won the Spanish Open for his second European Tour title, closig with a 3-under 69 for a four-stroke victory.
Morrison finished at 10-under 278 at Real Golf Club El Prat.
Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez, the winner last year at PGA Catalunya at a tour-record 50 years, 133 days, closed with a 67 to tie for second with England's David Howell (73), Italy's Francesco Molinari (71) and France's Edouard Espana (69).
Sports on 05/18/2015