<p>Rory McIlroy continued his dominating form when he won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by two strokes on Sunday and regained the world number one ranking, replacing Australia's Adam Scott.<br /><br />McIlroy made a sizzling start to the final round with three consecutive birdies to quickly erase a three-stroke deficit and surge past Sergio Garcia at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.</p>.<p><br />The Northern Irishman carded a 66 to finish at 15-under-par 265, while Spaniard Garcia (71) was second on 13-under, with Australian Marc Leishman (67) another shot back in third place.<br /><br />Defending champion Tiger Woods pulled out of the tournament after aggravating his troublesome back, raising more questions about the playing future of the 14-times major champion.<br /><br />McIlroy, 25, took the world number one ranking for the fifth separate occasion, and the first since March of last year, displacing Scott, who had been on top for 11 weeks.<br /><br />McIlroy, who won the British Open in his previous start two weeks ago, collected $1.53 million for his first victory in a World Golf Championships event.<br /><br />And he did not sound like he was ready to rest on his laurels as he heads to the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Kentucky, where he will seek a fourth major title.<br /><br />"Mentally I'm really sharp," he told reporters. "It's the most comfortable I've ever felt trying to close out a golf tournament out there today.<br /><br />"It felt normal, like a first or second round. It didn't feel like the fourth round. I didn't get ahead of myself. I just kept playing shot after shot after shot.</p>.<p><br />His current form is the best of his career, he said, even better than at this time two years ago, when he won the PGA Championship by eight strokes.</p>.<p><br />Not that he played flawlessly on Sunday, but he invariably extricated himself from trouble with an assured putting stroke that limited the damage to just one bogey.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Rory McIlroy continued his dominating form when he won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by two strokes on Sunday and regained the world number one ranking, replacing Australia's Adam Scott.<br /><br />McIlroy made a sizzling start to the final round with three consecutive birdies to quickly erase a three-stroke deficit and surge past Sergio Garcia at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.</p>.<p><br />The Northern Irishman carded a 66 to finish at 15-under-par 265, while Spaniard Garcia (71) was second on 13-under, with Australian Marc Leishman (67) another shot back in third place.<br /><br />Defending champion Tiger Woods pulled out of the tournament after aggravating his troublesome back, raising more questions about the playing future of the 14-times major champion.<br /><br />McIlroy, 25, took the world number one ranking for the fifth separate occasion, and the first since March of last year, displacing Scott, who had been on top for 11 weeks.<br /><br />McIlroy, who won the British Open in his previous start two weeks ago, collected $1.53 million for his first victory in a World Golf Championships event.<br /><br />And he did not sound like he was ready to rest on his laurels as he heads to the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Kentucky, where he will seek a fourth major title.<br /><br />"Mentally I'm really sharp," he told reporters. "It's the most comfortable I've ever felt trying to close out a golf tournament out there today.<br /><br />"It felt normal, like a first or second round. It didn't feel like the fourth round. I didn't get ahead of myself. I just kept playing shot after shot after shot.</p>.<p><br />His current form is the best of his career, he said, even better than at this time two years ago, when he won the PGA Championship by eight strokes.</p>.<p><br />Not that he played flawlessly on Sunday, but he invariably extricated himself from trouble with an assured putting stroke that limited the damage to just one bogey.<br /><br /></p>