Rory McIlroy enjoys first Scottish trophy boost heading into major bid at Open

Walking up to the 18th with a share of the lead alongside home favourite Robert MacIntyre at The Renaissance Club, McIlroy secured a first career triumph in Scotland with a slick final putt for a two-under 68 on the day and one-shot success over MacIntyre.

It provided McIlroy with his second tournament win of the year and first since February’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic – offering the perfect confidence boost heading into his bid for a fifth career major this week at The 151st Open around Royal Liverpool.

McIlroy told Sky Sports following his win: “Really proud...that was such a tough day, so tough, especially the back nine.

"I bogeyed my last two holes on the front nine to go to two over and I saw Tyrrell (Hatton) was making a run, obviously Bob (MacIntyre) was a making a run as well and had an unbelievable finish.

"To play that back nine in four under par to win the tournament...yeah, really proud of how I just stuck in there.

"I hit some amazing shots down the stretch and was able to finish it off with a really nice putt there.

"It feels incredible, it’s been a long six months I feel since I won in Dubai, I’ve given myself tons of chances and hopefully this win sort of breaks the seal for me, especially going into next week as well.”

When asked about his approach to the final hole, holding a tie for the lead with MacIntyre back in the clubhouse, McIlroy said: “I was right between four iron and two iron...I took my three iron out at the start of the week and it probably was a perfect three iron.

"Four iron was only getting to the front edge of the green and two iron I had to sort of cut it and try to get it up into the wind a little bit and I just hit this two iron and it came off absolutely perfectly.

"Probably the best shot I’ve hit all year...it was exactly the way I wanted to play it.

"And when you hit a shot like that I felt like I deserved to hole that putt to finish it off.”

On his winning putt, McIlroy said: “It was straight downwind so it was quite easy, I knew it was going to get to the hole although the greens were really slow.

"I just started on my line, started it right edge or a ball out on the right and just let it do its thing.

"It hung on for me, I thought it might have been missing left at the end but it hung on and went in.

"To hole that putt on 17 to at least give myself the opportunity to win in regulation and then to do that on 18, I’ll take a lot from that...not just going into next week but going into the rest of the year.”