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They should not have been playing. The only illumination came from forks of lightning, distant but uncomfortably close for a golf tournament to continue.
Fearsome black late summer clouds accelerated the fall of darkness. They really should have been preparing to complete the 2014 US PGA Championship the following day.
But there was another force of nature at play – Rory McIlroy. And back then he was an unstoppable presence at the top of the game.
Memories of his most recent major success, almost a decade ago, are rekindled this week as the US PGA returns to Valhalla in Kentucky.
And not because of the devastating way he won at Quail Hollow last Sunday – a performance that reminded us of McIlroy in his absolute pomp.
It was at the Louisville course in 2014 that McIlroy refused to be stopped by the elements to triumph amid dramatic, chaotic scenes on the final hole.
This was his third win in consecutive tournaments, each time beating the best players in the world to win The Open at Hoylake, a World Golf Championships event at Firestone and then the Wanamaker Trophy in the evening gloom of America’s gateway to the south.
His one stroke victory over Phil Mickelson completed the highest summer in what remains a glorious career for the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy was 25 years old and the winner of four major titles, a feat matched at such a young age by only Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Jones and Young Tom Morris.
His rate of success was keeping company with legends. Natural talent allied with the cockiness that comes with knowing you are more gifted than your rivals made him an irresistible force.
So nothing was going to stop him on that final day at Valhalla, where he led by one heading into a delayed closing round, but trailing Rickie Fowler by three when he embarked on the inward half.
Back then, things would fall into place for McIlroy. He had the knack and this victory appeared to prove he could win a dogfight as well as dominate the biggest events.
His first two major wins – the 2011 US Open and the following year’s PGA were won by eight shots. He won wire to wire at Hoylake, but Valhalla was different.
It was a scrap and on the par-five 10th hole McIlroy was on the ropes playing his second from 283 yards out. He wanted a high draw from his fairway wood, instead it was a low mishit that flew in the opposite fashion.
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Rory McIlroy was 25 when he won his second US PGA Championship title and fourth major
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