Rory McIlroy exhibited some of the form that has seen him dominate Quail Hollow for the last seven years, but a final round 66 was not enough to successfully defend his title at the Wells Fargo Championship.
The Holywood golf had to endure a disappointing opening three rounds, plagued by inconsistency that was none more evident than Saturday's third round: five birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey leaving him eight shots off the pace heading into the final round.
"If you can take away those fives at the start and the end, it was a pretty good scorecard" he told Sky Sports afterwards.
"I played well, I hit a lot of better iron shots, I converted a lot of chances. I did a lot of things right today. They were two soft bogeys at the first and at the 18th. On the last it was just a completely wrong shot selection.
"I was trying to post ten-under par. That was the score in my mind, so I needed to birdie the last couple of holes. It just didn't quite work out for me.
"I've got two big weeks coming up. It's a decent performance, looking back on it two 73s I shot in the first and the third round left me with a little bit too much to do heading into the last."
The feeling was that he had left a number of shots out on the course, a course where last year he shot a course record 61 en route to a 21-under-par victory, and his bogey on the first added to frustrations.
This is going to be an exciting afternoon at Quail Hollow. #QuickHits https://t.co/WpfgSwiRey
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 8, 2016
However, McIlroy looked back to his scintillating best yesterday following that bogey with four birdies on the front nine including a 51-foot eagle putt on the seventh.
This, alongside his monster 79 footer on Saturday, were perhaps the highlights of the weekend.
From 79 feet, 9 inches 🎯
This put a smile on the two-time champ’s face 😠#QuickHits https://t.co/mdBCXJGBHl
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 7, 2016
There was to be something palindromic about his final round, another four birdies and a bogey finish meant he would finish the day on six-under-par and seven-under for the weekend.
American James Hahn beat compatriot Roberto Castro in a play-off to snatch victory, two birdies and an eagle on the front nine was enough guide him to the last two.
James Hahn's last 9 starts:
• CUT
• CUT
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• CUT
• CUT
• CUT
• CUT
• CUT
• CUT
• Win ðŸ†Golf is a funny game. ï¸â›³ï¸ pic.twitter.com/Gnt352BlSh
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 8, 2016
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