How Rory McIlroy won his two PGA Championships

Rory McIlroy goes into this week’s PGA Championship having successfully defended his Masters title in April. He began last year’s tournament at Quail Hollow as a warm favourite but later admitted that he struggled to find motivation.

This year will surely be different as be bids to win this major for the third time.

Here, we look back at how he triumphed in 2012 and again two years later.

How Rory Won The 2012 PGA Championship

In 2012 he won what was his second major with a brilliant eight-shot victory at Kiawah Island. 

The Northern Irishman, 23 at the time, shot a six-under 66 to finish 13 under and return to world number one, while unheralded Englishman David Lynn was second.

Ian Poulter faltered on the back nine to finish third on four under with Justin Rose, defending champion Keegan Bradley and Sweden's Carl Pettersson.

Four-time winner Tiger Woods stuttered to a level-par 72 and two-under total. By contrast, McIlroy mastered the Ocean Course, even posting a second-round 75 when many of his peers were bullied by Kiawah Island at its wildest.

He became the youngest winner of the tournament since it adopted strokeplay in 1958, while his eight-shot victory was also a new PGA Championship record, beating the previous biggest winning margin set by Jack Nicklaus 32 years before.

"I don't think I have let it sink in yet - I am speechless," said McIlroy, the first Briton to claim the US PGA title since Jim Barnes won the first two tournaments in 1916 and 1919 when it was a matchplay event.

McIlroy also became the youngest player to win two majors since Spain's Seve Ballesteros achieved the feat in 1980.

"It was a great round of golf," he added. "The gameplan was just to play solid. I got off to a bit of a shaky start, but settled into it and I thought my putting today was phenomenal.

"Thanks dad and thanks mum - I'm sure she's watching at home. I had a good feeling at the start, but I never imagined doing this. It means an awful lot to look at the names on that trophy and put mine alongside them."

McIlroy's final day began earlier than scheduled as a result of Saturday's rain which brought a halt to several third rounds. Having recorded five birdies on the front nine the previous day, the man from Holywood added two more on the 15th and 16th to start the final round on seven under, a three-shot lead over second-placed Pettersson.

Swede Pettersson's hopes of a maiden major suffered a huge blow on the first hole when he was handed a two-shot penalty "for moving a loose impediment in a hazard", when a leaf moved.

Despite the setback, Pettersson holed four birdies en route to four under for the tournament - his best major finish. McIlroy suffered no such ill fortune; he was the only one of the top six not to drop a shot during his final round. His biggest challenge came from England's Poulter. The Hertfordshire golfer, who was outside the automatic Ryder Cup places going into the tournament, remarkably made five successive birdies and six in the first seven holes to close the gap to McIlroy to two.

However, Poulter's charge was halted on the back nine by three successive bogeys from the 13th which effectively ended his major bid.

McIlroy, who won the 2011 US Open by seven shots, knocked in a 25-foot putt on the 18th to seal victory with a sixth birdie of the round.

When McIlroy Lifted The Wanamaker Trophy For a Second Time

And two years later he was at it again as he edged a gripping PGA Championship in near darkness at Valhalla to become the first UK player to win back-to-back majors, having won The Open the previous month.

Three players were still in contention at the final hole, with heavy rain having earlier led to a two-hour delay.

A see-saw battle on the back nine witnessed four different players sharing the lead at some stage.

But it was the Northern Irishman who dug deep to follow his Open success with a one-shot victory as he finished 16 under. His three-under 68 on the final day saw off Phil Mickelson, with Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson a shot further adrift. 

He had earlier seen his overnight one-shot lead wiped out on the front nine and was three shots behind the leaders at one point before taking control after the turn. However, he would not have finished the day were it not for a fine display of sportsmanship from Mickelson and Fowler. The pair were in the group ahead and allowed him to play up behind them as he tried to beat the fading light following the rain delay, then waited on the side of the 18th green to applaud the new champion.

Flashlights illuminated the night sky as McIlroy showed sheer relief after holing out his final putt, fist-pumping the air and celebrating on the course with his father Gerry before receiving the huge Wanamaker Trophy.

McIlroy's resurgence on the back nine capped a thrilling day and saw him become the third youngest player of the modern era - after Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus - to win four of golf's biggest prizes, while he also became the first man to win back-to-back majors since Ireland's Padraig Harrington in 2008.

Little did we know that we would have to wait until 2025 for his next major, the career-defining Masters victory that finally completed the grand slam.