When Keith Mitchell birdied the 13th hole Sunday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Championship at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Golf Club, it pulled him back into a tie with Rory McIlroy in the event’s final group.
That’s when the 29-year-old graduate of Baylor School and the University of Georgia realized this was an experience unlike any other.
“When I stood on the 14th tee, I looked down at my shirt, and I could see my shirt moving from my heart beating so fast,” Mitchell said Monday afternoon. “That’s when I was like, ‘Holy cow. This is it. This is what I’ve grown up trying to do.’ The hardest part was trying to hit those finesse shots with an open face to those tucked pins to get the up-and-down, and that’s the only reason why Rory beat me.
“He got up-and-down on 14 and 15, and I didn’t.”
McIlroy, the four-time major champion and 19-time winner on the PGA Tour, ended an 18-month drought by claiming his third Wells Fargo title. It was a popular storyline for sure, but it denied Mitchell’s bid for a second PGA victory and his first since draining a 15-foot birdie on the final hole of the 2019 Honda Classic to top Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler by a stroke.