CHARLOTTE — The Boy Wonder is now a winner on the PGA Tour.

With a brilliant weekend of 66 Saturday and a course-record 62 Sunday, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy blew past a stellar field to win the Quail Hollow Championship, four shots better than four-time major winner and reigning Masters champion Phil Mickelson and five shots better than two-time major champion Angel Cabrera.

McIlroy, who turns 21 on Tuesday, needed an eagle late in his round on Friday to make the cut on the number, then became the youngest player to win on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods won in 1996 at Disney at age 20.

McIlroy was 16 under par for the weekend, which broke that tournament record by seven shots.

He closed with a back-nine 30 Sunday punctuated with a 5-iron from 206 yards to 3 feet for eagle at the 15th, a 7-iron from 167 yards out of a fairway bunker to 5 feet for a birdie on 16 and a 42-foot birdie putt on the 18th.

"I didn't feel a 62 was coming, but I felt as if my game was definitely getting a lot better. The 66 (Saturday) was probably the worst I could have shot. I gave myself so many chances. I had five eagle putts," McIlroy said. "And today I just carried on from there. The last two days it seemed as if everything had just gone right. You get yourself into sort of a mind-set like that, and you just keep going."

With an aching back on the mend — he missed his last two cuts, including at the Masters — McIlroy lived up to his billing as the next superstar in golf. The buzz the past two years was coming from his peers.

"He's an amazing talent," Mickelson said. "You knew he was going to come out here and win, because he's won all over the world."

Ireland's Padraig Harrington, a three-time major champion, stayed around after his round to congratulate McIlroy. Harrington said the win by McIlroy will ease pressure on the youngster back home in Northern Ireland.

"It's a big deal for him to come over here and start winning over here. He wasn't contending, wasn't winning. (A win) makes it a lot easier for him going forward, and I think it could make a big difference to his career," Harrington said. "He'll be a lot more comfortable in who he is."

On a stifling day at Quail Hollow Club, McIlroy closed his front nine with three consecutive birdies, added another on the 11th, and then finished 5 under on his final five holes.

"To go out there and make as many birdies the way the golf course was set up, it gives me a lot of confidence," McIlroy said. "I knew I was playing pretty good. To be honest, I didn't get much out of my rounds on Thursday and Friday, but obviously I made up for it on the weekend."

There was no weekend in Charlotte for Tiger Woods, who matched the worst nine-hole score of his PGA Tour career and wound up with a 7-over 79 to miss a cut for only the sixth time in 241 tournaments as a professional...

Rory McIlroy earns first PGA Tour victory in style