Rory McIlroy created history by becoming the first player in history to win the FedEx title on three occasions when claiming the season finale Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club for which he picked up a cheque for €18,062,100. He had previously been tied on two victories with Tiger Woods in the PGA Tour’s flagship playoff series.
The Northern Ireland golfer produced a stunning performance to overcome a six-shot deficit with a final round 66, containing six birdies to pip the US Masters champion and world number one Scottie Scheffler (73). It was the 12th occasion that McIlroy has won on the PGA Tour when trailing entering the final round, three more than any other player since 2010.
The drama continued to the final hole, McIlroy’s second to the par five hitting the grandstand, Scheffler finding the sand. A par sufficed for McIlroy. South Korea’s Sunjae Im snuck into a tie for second place.
The initial danger for Scheffler and McIlroy in their duel was to avoid dragging each other into a vortex of errors or conservative golf and when each blinked and bogeyed the first hole it was both an early gut check and a mini boost for the other pursuers.
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It was in marked contrast to the quality the pair displayed in finishing their thunderstorm delayed third round earlier in the day. McIlroy signed for a superb 63, while Scheffler (66) birdied four of his last six holes. Six clear, it was Scheffler’s tournament to lose, a scenario that would have been unthinkable based on his play over the first 54 holes.
But no one is immune to pressure, even a Masters champion, and Scheffler succumbed, stumbling from tee to green through the first six holes where he shed three shots. By the time the pair walked off the seventh green, McIlroy was on level terms on 20-under, his driving, iron play and putting in perfect sync as he racked up four birdies.
Scheffler reclaimed the lead with a birdie on the eighth, McIlroy was back on terms with a birdie on the 12th but promptly gave it back on 14. A brilliant birdie on 15, a stunning par save on 16 when the American bogeyed; it was vintage McIlroy and gave him that one-shot cushion which he took to the clubhouse and the title.
