the Sunday singles, he lost to Patrick Reed, 1 up, thanks to a birdie by the American at the last hole. 2017 At the end of 2016, Nike announced their withdrawal from the golf equipment market, releasing players from their contracts early. After spending several months trying different clubs and balls, McIlroy signed a $100 million endorsement deal with TaylorMade. McIlroy did not win during 2017, but still had a solid year recording top 10 finishes at the Masters, The Open and 3 WGC events. He was hampered throughout the season by a rib injury first sustained at the BMW SA Open in January, where he lost out on the title in a playoff to Graeme Storm, and played a limited schedule as a result. After missing out on qualifying for the end-of-season Tour Championship on the PGA Tour, he decided to sit out the remainder of the year to rest and recover fully. 2018 McIlroy returned after more than 100 days away at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in late January. Prior to the tournament, McIlroy revealed he has a slight heart irregularity but played down the impact on his golf. McIlroy finished runner-up to Li Haotong in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. He lost out by one stroke, having led by two with five holes to play. It was his 16th runner-up finish on the European Tour and the 22nd runner-up finish of his career. On 18 March 2018, he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a final-round 64, his first win since winning the Tour Championship (and FedEx Cup) in 2016. In April, in his tenth appearance at the Masters Tournament, McIlroy was in contention during the final round. McIlroy and Patrick Reed teed off in the final pairing at Augusta National with McIlroy three shots behind Reed. However, McIlroy shot a 74 to finish six back of the winner, Reed, and was thus not able to take advantage of this opportunity to win a green jacket. He tied for second with a score of six-under-par at the 2018 Open Championship. In September 2018, McIlroy qualified for the European team participating in the 2018 Ryder Cup. Team Europe beat Team USA 17 1/2 to 10 1/2 at Le Golf National outside of Paris, France. 2019: pursuit of second FedEx Cup McIlroy started his year on the PGA Tour in good form with five straight top-6 finishes: tied