British Open 2014: Leaderboard, live coverage, results and more from Sunday’s final round at Hoylake

When Rory McIlroy completed the third leg of his career grand slam at the British Open, the method of celebration he opted for was the launching of a golf ball into the grandstands. We’ve seen players throw their putters, forget about their golf ball and run to their caddies, and also just break down with their feet stuck in concrete after their final putt rolled into the cup. But tossing your ball into the crowd is nothing new either.

But that Nike ball has resurfaced less than two weeks after Rory heaved it into the Royal Liverpool crowd. It’s now up for auction, and it’s already jumped from a starting point of $1,000 to more than $4,000 so far. You’ll be happy to know that McIlroy’s custom ball is stamped with “Rors” -- one of those nicknames that’s uncreative while also being no shorter than the actual name. (Photos and auction info via GreenJacketAuctions.com)

Rory McIlroy may be the next coming of Tiger Woods inside the ropes but the newly crowned British Open champion has a way to go before he wins over viewers slouched on their couches with TV remotes in their hands.

The final round of the Open Championship earned ESPN, which managed a measly 2.3 U.S. rating and 3.3 million viewers, its lowest numbers for the penultimate major on the men’s golf calendar since the network began broadcasting the event in 2009, according to Paulsen/Sports Media Watch.

Tiger Woods may believe he can resuscitate his golf game as successfully as surgeons repaired his aching back, but as far as Brandel Chamblee was concerned the Tiger era died at Royal Liverpool on June 19, 2014.

Woods had not yet officially killed his chances of winning his 15th major at the site of last week’s British Open, but the brash Golf Channel analyst and outspoken Tiger critic was ready to dissect the corpse of the former World No. 1’s major championship chase even before he took the field in Sunday’s finale.

The shot I’ll always remember is the approach into the 18th green on Saturday evening, a laser through some gunmetal Liverpool firmament that was impossibly straight. The ball rocketed off Rory McIlroy’s 5-iron, a ridiculous club selection from 239 yards away, and never left the flagstick. There was no draw, no fade, no wobble or movement in the wind, no kick off a mound, no run and roll up off a slope. The ball flew straight. It bounced straight.

It was in that third round finish, and specifically that shot, that the difference between Rory McIlroy and all the other world-class players, multiple major winners, top prospects and Hall-of-Famers, was so easily in view and discernible. McIlroy is the best golfer in the world, now and for the next several years.

Rory McIlroy won the British Open, so naturally it was time for him to take a selfie. At this point we’ve hit “selfie inception” with photos of the photo taker, all framed with a camera in front to catch them all. Don’t think about it too much, it will just exhaust you.

The story of this selfie isn’t McIlroy and his throng of fans, but one guy who’s either way too excited about being in this shot, or he’s really a fish posing as a human and he’s drowning out of water.

Rory McIlroy, your newly crowned 2014 British Open champion, proved Sunday that the fewer pre-shot thoughts a golfer has to consider, the better.

“They’re very simple. I just kept telling myself two words,” McIlroy told ESPN about the couple of “trigger words” he used as mantras all week to help him maintain his inner peace.

Rory McIlroy just won the British Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, and the Merseyside crowd cheered hard for the Northern Irish boy as he pulled away from the competition after a dominant four-day performance.

Well, they cheered for him -- until he said one little thing:

Despite having his lead cut from six strokes to two, Rory McIlroy appeared unfazed throughout the final round of the British Open. He carried himself extremely well all week, appearing to be relaxed and in control of his game. Other than a few smiles here and there, McIlroy remained relatively emotionless, marching through his business shot-by-shot. That changed as soon as the final putt found the bottom of the cup.

There were hugs, lots of hugs. McIlroy’s mother greeted him on the 18th green to celebrate the win:

Rory McIlroy started Sunday’s final round at the Open Championship with a huge six-shot lead, but it was far from the coronation stroll that many expected. Sergio Garcia, and to a lesser extent Rickie Fowler, put the pressure on at different points throughout the round and made the now three-time major winner sweat a little on the back nine. At one point, Sergio cut what was his seven-shot deficit at the start to just two shots, adding a little drama as Rory hit a few loose shots one group behind him.

Garcia was fabulous all day, rolling his putter about as good he ever has, especially at a major championship. He started with birdies in three of his first five holes to promptly jump into double-digit red figures. The putter has abandoned him as so many critical times in the past, usually from the shortest distances in the biggest spots at the majors. But it was the club that saved him repeatedly, including on a lengthy birdie try at the third. Garcia was so enamored with club that he felt moved enough to kiss it.

Rory McIlroy, with a two-shot, wire-to-wire victory at the British Open on Sunday, joined Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus in a select club of only three golfers to win three legs of a career grand slam before the age of 26.

McIlroy, who began the finale at Hoylake with a six-stroke lead over Rickie Fowler, shot a final-round 1-under 71 to hoist his first claret jug to go with the 2011 U.S. Open trophy and the 2012 PGA Championship Wannamaker. Sergio Garcia, tied for second with Fowler, was runner-up in a major for the fourth time in his colorful career.

Heading into the final round with a six-stroke lead, it appeared that Rory McIlroy was well on his way to cruising to victory at the British Open. A couple of early bogeys from McIlroy and a strong charge from Sergio Garcia added a bit of suspense, but McIlroy settled in and closed strong to seal the wire-to-wire victory. The win added a third major championship to McIlroy’s resume and leaves him needing just a win at the Masters to complete the career grand slam. The victory also added another significant deposit into McIlroy’s bank account. In addition to the Claret Jug, McIlroy will take home $1.66 million in prize money.

With a Nike endorsement contract worth more than $200 million, McIlroy is already one of the highest-earning athletes in the world. Although he’s made a lot of money off the course, his on-course earnings haven’t been too shabby either. The $1.66 million he took home on Sunday moves his career on-course earnings to more than $31 million. Major championships always offer some of the biggest payouts in golf, but McIlroy’s win is significantly more than what Phil Mickelson took home last year. The PGA of America and the PGA Tour increased the purses in marquee events this year and the various groups running the majors opted to do the same. The R&A, which runs the British Open, increased the purse this year with the winner’s share moving from $1.4 million to $1.66 million.

Sergio Garcia has a long history of issues during key moments in majors. He looked like a different player on Sunday at the British Open, keeping the pressure on Rory McIlroy with some very strong play. The first sign of issue came on No. 15. After hitting his tee shot right, Garcia caught too much sand and failed to get out of the pot bunker.

Garcia hit a much better shot on his second try from the bunker and tapped in for bogey. It was his first dropped shot of the day, but when you are trying to come back from seven shots off the lead on a Sunday, there isn’t much margin for error. Garcia will now need a very strong close as he is three shots off the lead with three holes to play.

If you’d listen to Sergio Garcia after so many of his close calls at the majors, you might think he’s had the hardest luck of any pro in the history of golf. But on Sunday at the Open Championship, the precocious Spaniard is catching some really good breaks. None was luckier than this bank off the grandstand at No. 12. Sergio completely airmailed his approach shot, but used the backboard to set up of a nice little par.

After he got up-and-down from there the fortunate par, Garcia acknowledged the insentient source of his good luck.

UPDATE: Rory McIlroy won by two strokes to take the top prize.

Following the lead of the Masters and U.S. Open, the R&A has also significantly increased their purse for the 2014 British Open. The total purse is £5.4, or $9.19 million, and the winner’s check will be £975,000 ($1.66 million).

We’ve all had conversations with inanimate objects, but not many of us can have conversations with inanimate objects the way Sergio Garcia can:

But his begging turns angry, as the ball refuses to be good for him. “Please! Please,” he shrills, still using polite words but with a tone that is distinctly not polite.

The chasers are closer to Rory McIlroy than when the day started, but the 54-hole leader is still ahead by three shots through his first six holes.

Sergio Garcia is the one trying to make it interesting by the back nine, rolling in birdies on Nos. 1, 3, and 5 to get to 12-under for the championship. Garcia is playing some of the best golf of his life over the past 12 months, but he’s still without that major championship. The precocious Spaniard remains one of the best tee-to-green players in the world, right up there in the class with Adam Scott and McIlroy. But the putter has always abandoned him at crucial times during these major championships. On Sunday, that most important club is rolling well (he even kissed it). If he can get hot and keep posting red numbers at these par-5s, it will at least make Rory work for it.

There’s irony in Sergio Garcia kissing the one club so responsible for so many of his major failures.

Sergio is certainly playing well, but he’s a little excited for someone still six shots behind.

We keep hearing how easy the four par-5s are at Royal Liverpool, and we saw Rory McIlroy pull off that ridiculous eagle-eagle finish on the final two par-5s on Saturday. But no one has hit as good a shot into one of these par-5s than Jim Furyk, who was one lucky bounce off the flagstick away from a double eagle.

Sergio has a hole-out from the fairway earlier this week, but I’d argue, given the distance and fairway wood, that Furyk’s is the approach of the week.

The leaders are still on the driving range at the Open Championship, but Royal Liverpool is already yielding some low numbers early on Sunday. With Rory McIlroy beginning the day with a six-shot lead, the chasers around him -- Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia -- must post a round in the low-to-mid 60s to even have a chance. And so far, we’ve seen a few rounds start to touch the mid-60s.

Chris Wood is the early pacesetter, getting in the clubhouse with a 7-under round of 65. Wood rolled in birdies on the final four holes to card an inward 32. Two of those last three holes are gettable par-5s, so if a player can get to within a couple shots coming down the stretch, there’s at least hope. Just like Wood, a chaser will probably need to go bogey-free during his final round.

Tiger Woods may need to search for glass-half-full moments from his stint at the British Open, but at least the currently seventh-ranked player in the world did not finish DFL at Hoylake.

My, how times have changed for the former No. 1, who was speeding toward his private jet as his heir apparent Rory McIlroy was unpacking his courtesy car ahead of his attempt to go wire-to-wire for his third major title.

Your leader has arrived at Royal Liverpool for his final round of the Open Championship. How do we know? There were no less than four cameras there to record the dramatic action of Rory McIlroy getting out of his car and gathering his items in the trunk.

UPDATE: Rory McIlroy took the victory on Sunday. Woods finished in 69th place.

Tiger Woods may have started Sunday at the British Open with some pretense of putting together a competitive round, but on the back nine, his game has spiraled downward and now he just wants to get off the course.

Tiger Woods is out of contention and out early on the course at the Open Championship. So far, his final round looks more like a Sunday causal stroll with Jason Dufner, the two joking and laughing on the walk up almost every fairway. Although Woods would love to play well, the pressure isn’t exactly turned up and at this point, he’s probably just trying to get through his round as fast as possible, hop on a jet, and get back to Florida.

That kind of approach might yield some interesting shot attempts, and we saw one of the crazier plays from Woods at the difficult 7th hole. Tiger pushed his drive right in the typical Open high fescue grass. He had one of those nasty lies deep down in the junk but still a mile from the hole, so he decided to pull a ... 3-wood. The result, as you might imagine, was not ideal -- Tiger got through the high stuff but under the ball and badly popped one up.

Unlike the USGA at the U.S. Open, the R&A is not hellbent on putting together the toughest possible setup with the most difficult pin placements. Many of these pins are vulnerable and the course should allow for rounds in the mid-60s. That probably won’t be enough to catch Rory McIlroy, but there’s at least the chance to go low.

There are still 18 holes left in the 2014 British Open, but the oddsmakers are already calling it for Rory McIlroy. The Ulsterman is a 2/13 favorite to win his third major championship on Sunday at Royal Liverpool, where he’ll start the final round with a six-shot lead. For comparison’s sake, Martin Kaymer, who held five-shot lead at the 54-hole mark of the U.S. Open last month, was a 1/3 favorite heading into Sunday.

McIlroy has been in this position before, and never relinquished his lead with one round to play in his previous two major wins. In fact, he never lets anyone get close. The 2010 U.S. Open was an eight-stroke victory at the end, but that tournament was wrapped up by Friday afternoon at the midpoint. The PGA Championship was another eight-shot win, and despite an early run by Ian Poulter, McIlroy never really had to sweat down during the final round. The weather conditions at an Open Championship can sometimes create a more likely scenario for a huge tumble back to the field, but it’s often from a lesser player than the talent of Rory.