Rory relieved to end title drought

Rory McIlroy finally won when he least expected it, and it was as sweet as he could have imagined.

Only after he hung on for a one-shot victory in the Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina, his first title in 18 months, did he reveal his neck locked up during his final practice and if not for a late tee time on Thursday, he would have withdrawn.

And when he seized control Sunday afternoon with back-to-back birdies from the bunker down the stretch, he started to get ahead of himself thinking how cool it would be to see his wife and 8-monthold daughter waiting to celebrate with him on their first Mother's Day.

The finishing stretch at Quail Hollow snapped him back to reality. He hit a seven-iron safely over the water on the 17th, and caddie Harry Diamond wisely talked him into taking a penalty drop from a dangerous lie in a hazard on the closing hole. He two-putted from 45 feet for bogey, a 3-under 68 and a one-shot win.

The moment with Erica and little Poppy was what he imagined. So was that trophy.

"It's tough to get over the line, especially if you haven't done it in a while," McIlroy said, a winner at Quail Hollow for the third time. "It's such a funny week, knowing my game was pretty good and then having my neck lock up on the range and sitting here Sunday night with the trophy. Just glad I got through it."

Abraham Ancer finished runner-up for the fourth time in his career as he seeks his first title. Ancer ran off three straight late birdies that briefly gave him a share of the lead, and nearly closed with a fourth birdie when his 35-foot putt on No 18 grazed the lip. He shot 66.

But this was about McIlroy and the second-longest title drought of his career, who until this week had not played on the weekend in two months.

His previous victory was the HSBC Champions in Shanghai in November 2019. His next start is in two weeks at Kiawah Island for the PGA Championship, where he set the record in 2012 with an eight-shot victory.