McIlroy grabs third major title with two-shot win at Open Championship

Northern Irish golf ace Rory McIlroy grabbed his third major title with his first Open Championship title as he defeated Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler with a two-shot lead on the final day at Hoylake.

McIlroy, who has joined Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win three of golf's majors at the age of 25, now just has the Masters left to complete a career Grand Slam.

McIlroy, who started with a six-shot lead, fired a final-round 71 to finish 17 under as Garcia, who three times got to within two strokes, shot 66 and US Open runner-up Fowler 67, The BBC reported.

American Jim Furyk, 44, matched his fourth place in 2006 with a 65 to end 13 under.

McIlroy added the Claret Jug and a cheque for 9,75,000 pounds to the 2011 US Open and 2012 US PGA titles and became the second Northern Irishman to win the Open in four years after Darren Clarke's victory at Royal St George's in 2011.

McIlroy felt incredible with the victory and said that it was not easy as there were a few guys making runs at him and he just needed to stay focused, adding that to win three legs of the Grand Slam at 25 is a pretty big achievement.

The Northern Irishman also that the lead never got less than two, adding that he always felt that he had that little bit of a cushion. He said he knew he had some holes where he could make birdie and 16 was the real hole for him, which settled the championship.

McIlroy said that this is the first major his mother has been to that he has won, so he added that this one's for his mother. He said that he just cannot wait to get back and defend this thing at St Andrews next year.

Meanwhile, former world number one Tiger Woods, still chasing a 15th major title, carded 75 to finish six over in only his second tournament since March after returning from back surgery, the report added.