PA Media/dpa
London
Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard produced a brilliant finish to win the Amgen Irish Open on Sunday as Rory McIlroy suffered a second heartbreaking loss of the year.
McIlroy looked on course to claim his first professional win on home soil when he led by two shots with four holes to play at Royal County Down, just an hour from where he grew up in Northern Ireland.
But while Hojgaard completed a superb closing 65 with four birdies in the last five holes, McIlroy crucially bogeyed the 17th and then agonizingly missed an eagle putt on the 18th which would have forced a play-off.
McIlroy, who missed out on a first major since 2014 when he bogeyed three of the last four holes in the US Open in June, took a one-shot lead into the final round.