Rory McIlroy misses out at Genesis Invitational but remains form player with Masters approaching

Rory McIlroy's hopes of ­cementing his place at world no1 with victory at the Genesis Invitational were dashed by an error-strewn final round.

McIlroy had been in pole position for the win, but a final-round two-over-par 73 dropped him down to fifth place, three shots behind eventual winner Adam Scott.

The result, though, continued the 30-year-old’s remarkable run of form: he has not finished outside the top five in his last five tournaments.

The unforgiving fifth hole proved his undoing, as he carded a triple-bogey.

Two further bogeys were partly cancelled out by three birdies, while Scott, who had double-bogeyed the fifth, recovered his composure for a first PGA Tour win since 2016.

McIlroy said: “It was definitely the toughest day of the week. The wind was up, hole locations were tricky, the course was firming up again. Everyone was finding it tough out there.”

Despite the slip-up in chasing ­victory, McIlroy remains the overall form player on the Tour in the weeks leading up to the first major of 2020, the Masters, in April.

Augusta’s defending champion, Tiger Woods, had a tournament to forget, finishing last of all the players to have made the cut with a final score of 11-over-par. He made 12 bogeys and two double-bogeys during the week.

Woods said: “This part of my career didn’t exist a few years ago, so to be able to [play] no matter what I shoot [is great], but it’s still frustrating.”