Stunning 61 hands Rory McIlroy RBC Canadian Open title

McIlroy's countryman Graeme McDowell  secured his spot at the Open Championship in his home town of Portrush after finishing in a tie for eighth.

He needed to finish in the top 10 and drained his monster par putt at the 18th to do just that, finishing alongside Danny Willett and Henrik Stenson on 10 under par.

A birdie at the 18th would have given McIlroy a round of 59 but he bogeyed the last after finding a bunker on his approach to the green.

His win in Ontario is the perfect preparation for the US Open, the third major of the year, which begins on Thursday.

"I just got it going out of the gates. I said at the start of the day I wanted to be aggressive," McIlroy told Sky Sports.

"I played with so much freedom over the weekend, more freedom than I've had for a while, which is exciting. To get a win going into next week is huge."

McIlroy, who hit nine birdies, an eagle and two bogeys, finished ahead of Webb Simpson, who chipped in on the 18th to tie with Ireland's Shane Lowry on 15 under par.

ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Press Association Sport Staff');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'd35d8528-663c-4183-b52b-ccdba1fcf0ec');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:uk,paservice:sport:world');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:golf,sport:other');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Stunning 61 hands Rory McIlroy RBC Canadian Open title'});