Rory McIlroy shatters tournament record with seven-stroke win

Rory McIlroy rewrote the Quail Hollow record book en route to a seven-shot victory in the Wells Fargo Championship at Charlotte, N.C.

The 26-year-old Northern Irishman shot a 3-under-par 69 Sunday to finish at 21-under 267, easily breaking the tournament’s scoring record. The previous mark of 16-under 272 was set by Anthony Kim in 2008.

On Saturday, McIlroy set a course record with an 11-under 61 that gave him a tournament-record score of 18-under 198 though three rounds.

Patrick Rodgers (final-round 68) and Webb Simpson (72) tied for second place at 272.

McIlroy’s seven-shot win represented the PGA Tour’s largest margin of victory since Jimmy Walker’s nine-stroke victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January.

By earning an 11th victory in 94 career PGA Tour starts, McIlroy set a record among international players under the age of 30. Gary Player was a 10-time winner before 30, and Seve Ballesteros, Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and Adam Scott all won seven times prior their 30th birthdays.

The win was McIlroy’s second in his past three starts on the PGA Tour, as he recently captured the WGC-Cadillac World Match Play Championship in San Francisco. He already stood as the most recent player to win at least two events out of three, when he captured the Open Championship (British Open), the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the PGA Championship last year.

The Wells Fargo Championship was McIlroy’s first PGA Tour win back in 2010, and he became the first multiple winner in the event.

Rodgers, a 22-year-old playing on a sponsor exemption, nearly earned enough FedExCup points to claim full-time playing privileges on the PGA Tour. He gained 245 non-member points by sharing second place, leaving him 10 points short of the target number that would make him eligible for the remainder of the 2014-15 season.

Gary Woodland (final-round 67), Phil Mickelson (68) and Robert Streb (71) tied for fourth place at 276.