reigning Masters champion<\/a> was able to make another birdie and complete the roller-coaster win.\n <\/p>\n\n \u201cI feel just so lucky that I get to do this, I get to do this in front of these people,\u201d McIlroy said in his post-round interview.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe support has been absolutely amazing all week. I thought it was going to be a nice homecoming, obviously coming home with a green jacket and all that, but this has been absolutely incredible. This has exceeded all expectations.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The top of the leaderboard was congested throughout Sunday\u2019s final round at the K Club in Straffan, but it was McIlroy and Lagergren who emerged at the top of the pile on 17-under after both shooting 66.\n <\/p>\n
\n McIlroy had five birdies and that sensational eagle on the last, while Lagergren had four birdies to go with his eagle on the 16th, which saw him retake the tournament lead.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Spanish duo of \u00c1ngel Hidalgo and Rafa Cabrera Bello, who made a hole-in-one on the third, both finished two shots back on 15-under.\n <\/p>\n
\n For McIlroy, the victory comes nine years after his first Irish Open title and adds another piece of silverware to his memorable season, five months after he completed a career grand slam at the Masters.\n <\/p>\n
\n It also gives the world No. 2 a boost ahead of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York later this month, where McIlroy will be looking to retain the title with his European teammates.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cTo do what I did earlier in the year and then to come home and win my national open, no matter what happens for the rest of the year, that\u2019s a pretty cool year,\u201d he said. \u201c2025\u2019s going to go down as one of the best, if not the best, in my career.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m just so happy my game\u2019s in good shape, I feel like I\u2019m playing well,\u201d he added. \u201cThat excites me for what\u2019s coming up.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link Rory McIlroy claimed his second title at the Irish Open with a thrilling playoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-142008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}