McIlroy off his greens in California as Aberg ends 14-month drought

Rory McIlroy lines up a putt at Augusta National in 2024. Picture: Augusta National GC

Rory McIlroy's assault on the world number one ranking will have to wait after he endured another frustrating day on the greens and was outgunned by Scottie Scheffler by six strokes in the final round of the Genesis Invitational.

As Sweden's Ludvig Aberg made it four wins for European players in the last five PGA Tour events, carding a brilliant 66 to pip Maverick McNealy by a shot, McIlroy made just two birdies in a disappointing 72.

The Holywood star, who needed a top-five finish to leapfrog the injured Xander Schauffele and move to second in the world, tied for 17th on three-under.

To add to his frustration, he was playing alongside Scheffler, who shot an impressive 66 to finish tied for third alongside overnight leader Patrick Rodgers.

Both McIlroy and Scheffler had poor days on the greens on Saturday, but while the American recovered his putting mojo to briefly contend for victory at Torrey Pines' South Course last night, McIlroy had 32 putts and ended the week ranked 49th in the 54-man field for strokes gained putting.

From a European perspective, it was still a great week as Aberg, whose bid for victory at Torrey Pines in the Farmers Insurance Open three weeks earlier was derailed by illness, came storming through to claim his second PGA Tour win.

While McNealy shot a brilliant 64 to set the target at 11-under, the European Ryder Cup star birdied the 13th, 14th and 15th to draw level before two-putting the par-five 18th from 74 feet to shoot 66 and edge out the American by one.

Aberg's win, which moves him up one place to fourth in the world behind McIlroy, was his second on the PGA TOUR after his breakthrough win in The RSM Classic in 2023.

He finished 42nd at Torrey Pines three weeks ago, where he opened with a 63 but fell ill and was forced to withdraw after an opening 77 in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am the following week.

"I felt like I had a good chance of winning that tournament but wasn't really feeling like myself the last couple days," Aberg said of the Farmers Insurance Open.

"I don't like pulling out of tournaments, but I felt like I had to at Pebble just to give myself some time to recover and be ready for this one."

"I went home on Friday from Pebble, and then I was in bed until Tuesday. It wasn't until Wednesday that I started hitting balls.

"Couldn't really train in the gym properly until maybe Thursday. It took me a while, but here we are now."

As for his 14-month drought, he said: "Getting a win means a lot to me and that's -- I was pretty bummed I didn't get to win a tournament last year, but it's really nice to be able to do it again.

"It's almost addicting to walk down those last couple of holes and just want to do it again."

Seamus Power made six birdies in a 70 to finish tied for 24th on two-under and earn $164,858.
As for Shane Lowry, the Offaly man saved the best for last and also signed off with a 70 to finish tied for 39th on two-over.

McIlroy, Power and Lowry will rest this week as Pádraig Harrington flies the flag in the PGA TOUR's $7m Mexico Open at VidantaWorld in Vallarta.