Rory McIlroy did not win the 2026 Genesis Invitational on Sunday. But he beat Riviera’s back nine late in the final round and nearly overcame winner Jacob Bridgeman’s big 54-hole lead.
The five-time major winner, who finished T2, sounded pleased with his performance on Sunday night, calling it “a very positive week overall.”
At least when it came to his bank account, he wasn’t kidding. McIlroy earned a huge reward for his second-place finish at Riviera, thanks to Genesis’ status as a PGA Tour Signature Event.
However, his payout would have been much smaller had he not dropped a long putt for birdie on his final hole of the tournament. That fact was not lost on McIlroy after his round, and he used it hilariously in an answer to a reporter’s question about his “brutal” near-miss at the Genesis.
Rory McIlroy’s birdie bomb on 18 earns him a huge reward at Genesis
McIlroy’s final lap started slowly. He trailed Bridgeman by six shots at the start of the day and traded a birdie on first with a bogey on 6 to leave the front nine tied.
But once he made the turn, McIlroy kicked it into another gear. He birdied at 11 and then holed out an incredible bunker shot for another birdie at 12.
When Bridgeman later made bogey at 16, only three shots separated him and McIlroy on the leaderboard.
Rory birdied 17 to shave another stroke. At 18, he stared down a 30-footer and, unlike many of his other chances on Sunday, ultimately cleared it for an unlikely birdie.
It wasn’t enough to stop Bridgeman, who came out and won by one, but it was enough to advance McIlroy. one position on the scoreboard. And that had major financial consequences.
During his post-round interview, a reporter asked McIlroy if it was “cruel” to see his long birdie putt fall on 18, considering so many previous putts had been missed.
That’s when McIlroy gave his witty response, using his higher winnings as a punchline.
“No, not really,” McIlroy began. “It probably gave me an extra 400, 500,000 euros, so it’s fine.”
However, McIlroy’s quick math resulted in a major underestimate. In reality, his long birdie at age 18 increased his salary much more than he thought.
If Rory had made two puts for par at 18, he would have finished T3 with Adam Scott. That two-way tie for third place would have earned McIlroy $1.2 million. It is undoubtedly a surprising figure. For reference, it’s a bigger payday than Rory earned win the 2025 Irish Open in September ($1.02 million), his most recent victory.
But McIlroy sank his birdie putt on Riviera’s 18th hole. And in doing so, he improved from a T3 to a T2 finish with Kurt Kitayama. That vastly improved his payout from $1.2 to $1.8 million.
In short, McIlroy’s 9-yard lead on 18 won him $600,000 morewhich makes his income with 50 percent.
And based on his comments at the end of his press release, McIlroy will continue to focus on the positives as the biggest tournaments of the year approach.
“I feel like my game is in really good shape. I’m looking forward to playing on some Bermuda greens in the coming weeks,” McIlroy said in closing on Sunday. “But it feels good, it feels much better than in Dubai, which is a big step in the right direction. We just have to keep working.”
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