McIlroy Hoping For Final Group Improvement

Rory McIlroy believes he has learned a lot from last year as he looks to end his run of not winning when playing in the final group.

Former world number one Rory McIlroy (5/2 – Tournament of Champions Outright) says he is happy to have another chance at winning a tournament from the final group after keeping himself in contention at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Northern Irishman McIlroy shot a second consecutive five-under-par 68 on the Plantation Course in Kapalua on Saturday to move to -14, three shots behind American Gary Woodland (4/6 fav).

The four-time Major winner will be playing in the final group on Sunday and he will be hoping for a change in fortunes, having failed to go on to win a trophy in 2018 when he went out last in the final round of a tournament.

Success in Hawaii would be a great start to the year for the 29-year-old and he is looking forward to the challenge of chasing down Woodland over the last 18 holes.

“Another final group is great. Especially coming off the back of not being able to play as well as I would have liked in final groups last year,” McIlroy was quoted as saying by pgatour.com. “So to get myself right back in contention and see if I’ve learned anything from last year and try to put that into practice is great.

“Every time you tee it up you learn something new, you learn something different, and you try to implement that into the next time you play. And I feel like I learned a lot from last year.”

Australian Marc Leishman (15/2) is in sole possession of third on -13, four shots off the pace, whilst American duo Bryson DeChambeau (11/1) and Xander Schauffele (14/1) are a further stroke back.

Justin Thomas and first-rounder leader Kevin Tway then follow on -18 whilst defending champion Dustin Johnson is joined on -9 by Spanish star Jon Rahm.

Odds subject to change.