Sunday 19 May 2019 22:25, UK
Rory McIlroy was satisfied that he improved his form throughout the PGA Championship after closing with a second straight 69 at Bethpage Black.
McIlroy was flirting with a missed cut midway through his second round on Friday until he birdied four of his last six holes to get into the weekend with a shot to spare.
And, with conditions far tougher over the weekend, McIlroy was delighted to card a pair of one-under 69s which was set to earn an unexpected top-10 finish for the two-time champion, who remains without a major win since Valhalla in 2014.
"It's so tough out there, but I've moved up the leaderboard quite a lot," said McIlroy, who mixed three birdies with two bogeys in a solid closing round which lifted him to one over par for the week.
"My goal at the start of the day was to get into the top 10, so I played well and good way to finish off the week. I stuck at it the whole way. It's a 72-hole golf tournament and you've got to try till the very end and I did that this week.
"It wasn't good enough to be up there in contention but I made improvements each and every day, which is a good thing," added McIlroy, who is now looking forward to a busy stretch of golf as he competes in The Memorial and the Canadian Open before heading to Pebble Beach for the US Open next month.
"I'm looking forward to it," said the 30-year-old. "Last time I played Pebble in a US Open, I played with Tom Watson the first two rounds, so that was pretty cool.
"I'm looking forward to that run of golf. Actually my record in the US Open hasn't been very good the last few years, so I wanted to mix it up a little bit.
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"It's going to be my third tournament in a row, playing Memorial, Canada and then Pebble. Looking forward to that run of golf and looking forward to getting my game sharp and in good shape for that major."
