THEY DIDN'T WIN, BUT...

By Torleif Sorenson on 10/21/13

That's Kang Sung-Hoon getting the winner's trophy, but Rory fared alright

Rory McIlroy will not look back on 2013 with fondness, but on Sunday, he shot a four-under 67 to finish in a five-way tie for second at the Kolon Korea Open, a tournament on the OneAsia tour. Considering the weakness of his game this year, this has to be encouraging. The Holywood matinee idol said as much afterward:

"I only missed two greens and had so many chances. But it was like the story of yesterday. I just didn't hole enough putts. I created so many more chances today that it could have been 61, 62. It just wasn't to be.

"I hit the ball really well off the tee and my iron play was very solid as well. I feel like my game is in good shape going into the next few weeks, and that's a good thing."

Another golfer who has had a long dry spell is Michelle Wie; her Sunday 66 at the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship put her in a tie for third place. That's Wie's best finish in more than two years. She ended up watching Amy Yang capture her fifth victory over Hee Kyung Seo in a playoff, but she sounded fairly upbeat in front of a gaggle of reporters:

"...it's coming along. It's just taking some time to get together. I feel like my game is finally coming together slowly, I have just been patient with my game and working hard at it. It's just nice to see that it paid off this week, and hopefully I can finish strong next week."

If you watched Wie during the Solheim Cup, you know that she has taken to bends over about 90 degrees at the waist in order to put her eyes over the ball when putting. It helped during the Solheim Cup and it helped on Sunday; she took just 26 putts while making her way around Sky 72 Golf Club.

Had a blast this week at the Hana Bank Championship!!! Came up a shot short in the end but was fun being in contention :)

— Michelle Wie (@themichellewie) October 20, 2013

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Image via Facebook, Kolon Korea Open