Rory McIlroy's CJ Cup win built on Ryder Cup singles victory at Whistling Straits

Victory in Las Vegas was McIlroy's second PGA Tour success in 2021

By the Saturday night of last month's Ryder Cup, in golfing terms, Rory McIlroy was a broken man.

The 32-year-old from Northern Ireland did not want to see his clubs again until 2022. He was ready to finish a frustrating year there and then.

Except he could not because there was still the Sunday singles to be played. Europe sent him out first against the Olympic champion Xander Schauffele and all McIlroy could do was try to find a way to win.

"I went out there and I won my point by doing whatever I could," he later reflected. "I wasn't trying to be perfect, I wasn't trying to hit shots that I wasn't comfortable hitting."

That victory looks pretty pivotal right now because in his very next outing, last week's CJ Cup in the US, he surged to his 20th PGA Tour victory employing classic McIlroy power and style.

His triumph capped a fine weekend for UK golf that also brought eye-catching wins for Matt Fitzpatrick and Charley Hull.

Mcllroy's success is particularly notable, given the depths of his Ryder Cup despair which prompted a now famous flood of tears at the end of his singles contest at Whistling Straits.

That singles win taught him how to play his best golf. "On the Saturday night of the Ryder Cup I was done with golf," he admitted. "I didn't want to see golf again until 2022."

Speaking after he finished 25 under par to beat Open champion Collin Morikawa in Las Vegas last Sunday, McIlroy added: "That Sunday singles match sort of sparked a little bit of a flame again.

"You know, I think I maybe figured something out here, maybe play a few more times before the season's done. Saturday night of the Ryder Cup I certainly wasn't going to be here."

The champion was 16 under par for the weekend with scores of 62-66 to romp through the field and join elite company in PGA Tour history.

Since 1960, the only other players to reach 20 wins before the age of 33 are golfing legends: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Billy Casper and Arnold Palmer.

McIlroy moves from, for him, a lowly 14th to number eight in the world rankings thanks to this victory. He did it by leading the field in putting, driving with trademark magnificence and implementing welcome maturity in his course management.

In the final round his driver did not leave his bag after successfully reaching the par-four 12th from the tee. Thereafter he fired a succession of 3-woods, still achieving a remarkable 177 mph ball speed.

Needing a par five at the last he completed the task in exemplary regulation fashion. His tee shot was to the widest part of the fairway, a conservative approach and a wedge to the green to set up a comfortable two putt finish - it was textbook stuff.

"I know that when I do the things that I do well, this is what I'm capable of," he said. "I'm capable of winning a lot of events on the PGA Tour and being the best player in the world, something we talked about at the start of the week.

"It's just a matter of me getting back to playing golf and playing golf my way. That starts with being creative and being visual."

It was his second win in 2021, having triumphed at one of his favourite stomping grounds, Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina. Otherwise it has been a miserable year with only one top-10 in the four majors.

He turned to coach Pete Cowen after missing the cut at the Masters in April and had been on a fruitless search for technical consistency until last week. "All I did on the range was try to visualise every shot that I hit," McIlroy explained.

"Try to see draws, see fades, see high, see low and really just play around with it. The more and more I did that the more it feels comfortable on the course doing that, and that's playing golf.

"That's getting back to hitting shots and when it boils down to it, that's all you need to do out there are hit the shots. Sometimes I forgot that in a quest to try to be too perfect."

The set up at the Summit Club in the Nevada desert certainly suited McIlroy's strengths. It was relatively calm and he could play the sort of target golf at which he has so often excelled.

It was a different challenge for Fitzpatrick at the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama where the 27-year-old from Sheffield recovered from his own Ryder Cup nightmare.

Pointless at Whistling Straits for the second time in two appearances for Europe, Fitzpatrick reminded us of his impressive abilities with a classy closing 69 at one of the continent's toughest golfing tests.

"It's on the bucket list to win round Valderrama with the history that it has," Fitzpatrick said. "To do it bogey-free on Sunday as well is extra special.

"It's amazing, particularly the way I did It - very patient all day, didn't try to press anything, stuck to our targets and managed to hole the putts at the end."

Meanwhile in New York, Hull claimed her first title since 2019 by winning the individual title in the Aramco Team Series with what she considers one of the best rounds of her career.

There were no dropped shots for the Solheim Cup star in her closing 65 which helped her beat world number one Nelly Korda by a single stroke.

"It's good to get a win and coming towards the end of the season I hope to finish on a high," she said.

They are sentiments no doubt shared by the country's other two winners last weekend. McIlroy will next play in four weeks at the European Tour season-ender, the DP World Tour Championship, the lucrative Dubai event where Fitzpatrick is defending champion.