HOYLAKE, England — Rory McIlroy lifted the Claret Jug toward the slate-gray English sky as the 143rd British Open champion Sunday afternoon in front of an elbow-room-only gallery of 25,000 in the grandstands that horseshoe around the 18th green at Royal Liverpool.
But he won the tournament 24 hours earlier with his furious back-nine flurry that featured eagles on Nos. 16 and 18, both par-5s, and left those chasing him out of breath, out of holes and virtually out of hope.
McIlroy, in a style anyone would envy, captured the third leg of a career Grand Slam with the victory at age 25. He’s the third youngest player in major championship history to win his first three majors — behind only Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
This is the kind of company he’s keeping now.
“To sit here 25 years of age and win my third major championship and be three-quarters of the way to the career Grand Slam … I never dreamed of being at this point in my career so quickly,’’ McIlroy said.
“Those two eagles [Saturday] went a long way in deciding this championship,’’ McIlroy said.
“Rory just kind of distanced himself from the field a bit, especially with his finish [Saturday],’’ said Rickie Fowler, who finished tied for second with Garcia at 15-under.
“He finished like a champion [Saturday] to take a little bit of heat off him [Sunday],’’ said Adam Scott, who finished tied for fifth at 12-under.
Tiger Woods, who suffered his worst career finish in a major — 69th at 6-over par and 23 shots behind McIlroy — called McIlroy’s Saturday finish “what you have to do to separate yourself.’’
McIlroy shot 71 Sunday to finish 17-under par, two shots clear of Garcia and Fowler, who was paired with McIlroy in the final group. Jim Furyk finished alone in fourth at 13-under after shooting a final-round 65.
By comparison, this was a nail-biter for him.
“Today wasn’t easy,’’ McIlroy said. “There were a few guys making a run there. But my lead never got less than two [shots], so I always felt like I had a little bit of a cushion. And, in the back of my mind I knew I had the two par-5s.”
After Garcia had birdied 16 in front of McIlroy to shave the lead to two shots, McIlroy answered with a birdie of his own.
“Sixteen was the real hole for me, which I think settled the championship,’’ McIlroy said. “When I was able to make birdie there, it gave me three shots to play with.’’
Garcia really let the chance to push McIlroy slip away when he needed two swipes to get out of a green-side pot bunker on the 15th hole and bogeyed, dropping him three shots back and giving McIlroy just the breathing room he needed.
“It’s difficult when you’re in a situation where you know you can’t make a mistake,’’ Garcia said. “It just puts that little extra pressure. I wanted to at least make him feel a little bit and see how he would respond. And he obviously responded well, because I got within two, but every time I got closer, he kept making one birdie and not letting me get any closer than that.’’
From there — thanks in no small part to his fantastic finish on Saturday — McIlroy had three putts to play with for victory and took two of them to close it out.
About 30 minutes later, McIlroy was sitting in a press conference staring wide-eyed at his name freshly engraved on the Claret Jug.