The finishing stretch at Quail Hollow snapped Rory McIlroy back to reality. He hit a 7-iron safely over the water on the 17th, and caddie Harry Diamond wisely talked him into taking a penalty drop from a dangerous lie in a hazard on the closing hole. He two-putted from 45 feet for bogey, a 3-under 68 and a one-shot victory.

Abraham Ancer finished runner-up for the fourth time in his career as he seeks his first title. Ancer wasn’t part of the picture until he ran off three straight birdies late that briefly gave him a share of the lead, and nearly closed with a fourth birdie when his 35-foot putt on No. 18 grazed the lip. He shot 66.

But this was about McIlroy and the second-longest winless drought of his career, who until this week had not played on the weekend in two months.

Locked in a tight race among Keith Mitchell, Gary Woodland and then Ancer, McIlroy delivered the goods on the back nine. He holed a 10-foot par putt on the par-3 13th. He got up-and-down for birdie with splendid bunker shots on the reachable par-4 14th and the par-5 15th.

He won for the 19th time on the PGA Tour, and 27th time worldwide.

It was a tough finish for Mitchell, who started the final round with a two-shot lead and quickly stretched it to three shots with a 6-iron out of a fairway bunker into a stiffening breeze to 12 feet for birdie.

But his short game let him down all day, leading to bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes that cost him the lead, and on the 14th hole and 15th holes when he had to settle for pars after being in position for birdies.

Mitchell needed to finish alone in second to qualify for the PGA Championship through the money list. But he dropped a shot on the 17th and closed with a 72 to tie for third with Viktor Hovland, who had a 67.