McIlroy wins third FedEx Cup: "St Andrews was a really hard one for me to get over but this softens the blow a little bit"
Rory McIlroy
RORY McIlroy came close to making up for his close calls in the Majors this year when he stormed from six shots behind Scottie Scheffler to snatch the Tour Championship, a record third FedEx Cup and an $18 million payday.
Six behind Scheffler starting the week under the staggered start, the Holywood star was 10 shots behind the world number one after two holes on Thursday when he started triple-bogey, bogey.
He was facing accusations that he'd taken on too much in the PGA Tour's war with LIV Golf.
But while he was six adrift of the Masters champion after completing a weather-delayed, third-round 63 yesterday morning, he snuck into the final group where he could exert pressure on the leader at East Lake.
The Co Down man played superbly, putting brilliantly as he made up the deficit in just seven holes, carding a four-under 66 to Scheffler's three-over 73 — the joint worst score of the final round— to win by one from the American and Korea's Sungjae Im on 21-under par.
Before that he had to lose the lead and win it back outright for the first time with just two holes to go and finished with two pars to get the job done.
“What a week, what a day,” McIlroy said. “There’s one thing I want to say, I feel like Scottie deserves at least half of this today. He has had an unbelievable season, I feel sort of bad that I pipped him to the post but he’s a hell of a competitor, he’s an even better guy and it’s an honour and a privilege to just a battle with him today and I am sure we will have many more.
"I told him we are one all in Georgia this year. He got the Masters, I got this.”
Speaking later to Sky Sports about becoming the first man to win the FedEx Cup three times, McIlroy added: “To do something no one else has ever done and to play the golf when I needed to get the job done when I had to was really satisfying.”
Showing some emotion as he recalled notching top 10s in all the majors for the first time and coming up empty-handed, he was especially emotional as he cast his mind back to The 150th Open at St Andrews, where he was pipped by Cameron Smith and finished only third.
“I’ve been knocking on the door so much this year,” he said, choking up for a moment. “St Andrews was really hard for me. It was a tough one to get over but this softens the blow a little bit.
“It doesn’t make it that much easier to get over but it’s great to end the season on a high note like this.”
The Co Down man almost felt he had something to prove, adding: “The FedEx Cup is a massive tournament but the Major Championships are the pinnacle of our sport. This is close behind and I felt so close all year.“I had a couple of wins but I was just waiting for something. Maybe this was it. I got a little lucky with Scottie not playing his best golf today and I took advantage of that with my good play.
“But I went up against the best player in the world today and took him down. That’s got to mean something."
Winner of the FedEx Cup in 2016 and 2019, McIlroy bogeyed the opening hole but Scheffler three-putted and the Holywood star birdied four of five holes from the third to find himself tied for the lead.
As Scheffler bogeyed the fourth and sixth, the Co Down man rolled in 11 footers for birdies at the fifth and sixth and a 17 footer at seventh to draw level on 20-under.
Scheffler regained the lead with birdie from four feet at the eighth, but while he fist-pumped after making a 12-foot sand save at the 12th, McIlroy made a six footer for birdie there to draw level again.
The four-time Major winner made a mess of the 14th and fell one behind but drained a 32-footer across the green at the 221-yard 15th to draw level again, then saved par from eight feet at the 16th to go one clear of Scheffler, who made his fourth bogey of the afternoon, for the first time.
Scheffler missed a nine-footer at the 17th and while he had just 244 yards to the par-five 18th, he couldn't make a birdie and ended up tied for second with Im, which meant settling for $5.75 million.
McIlroy reiterated his belief the PGA TOUR is the best place to play golf on the planet but LIV Golf is set announce Chile's Joaquin Niemann as well as Open champion Smith are joining the Saudi rebel circuit today.
Smith will be the centrepiece of the big announcement in Boston as Greg Norman names the 48-man field for the fourth £20 million event in this year's series.
But the capture of Niemann, the highest-ranked under 25 player in the world, will cause most raised eyebrows in the locker room because the Chilean was part of last week's elite players meeting, fronted by Tiger Woods and McIlroy, that forced the PGA Tour to put up an extra $100m in incentives a year and overhaul its schedule to stem the player exodus.
"Everyone on TOUR has had to deal with a lot,” McIlroy said. "Even the guys that have went to LIV have had to deal with a lot. It's just been a very tumultuous sort of era in our game.
"I said it in the sort of prize ceremony there, this is the best place in the world to play golf. It's the most competitive. It's got the best players. It's got the deepest fields. I don't know why you'd want to play anywhere else.”
On the PGA TOUR Champions, Pádraig Harrington came up short in his bid for back-to-back wins in The Ally Challenge in Michigan.
One stroke off the pace starting the day, the Dubliner eagled the first but could only manage a two-under 70 to finish tied fourth, three shots behind playing partner Steve Stricker, who shot 67 to win by a shot from Jeff Maggert on 15-under.
Elsewhere, Olivia Mehaffey says she has no timeline for her return to the game after admitting she feels "lost" and "broken inside" following her father's death last year and is stepping away to look after her mental health.
The Banbridge talent (24) earned a conditional card at the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School last December, just two weeks after her father Philip passed away aged 59, following a two-year battle with colon cancer.
She dedicated that performance to her dad but took to Twitter on Saturday to reveal she hadn't given herself time to grieve and was taking time away from the game.
"Since the end of last year, I've been in denial and tried to brush all my feelings aside," Mehaffey wrote on Saturday after withdrawing overnight from the LET's Skafto Open in Sweden to miss her ninth cut in a row.
"I hid behind golf and didn't give myself any time to heal. I pushed everyone who wanted to talk and help away. I constantly told myself I was fine, I was coping, life was ok. Until everything caught up with me a few months ago and reality hit me.
"I've tried to put a smile on my face and hide behind the fact I can't make it through a day without crying, without feeling lost, without feeling broken inside and feeling so isolated from everyone," she wrote. "I feel I have lost myself and I can't find happiness right now.
"I'm learning that grief is a weird thing, something you don't know how you will handle and what the next day will bring. It has taken me 8 months to admit I need help to get through this, to learn how to move forward, to navigate through life without my dad here.
"Therefore, I have decided to take some time away to get the help I need and be surrounded by my family. I'm not sure when I will come back on tour, but I feel right now I need to focus on myself as a person ahead of an athlete."
Sweden's Linn Grant won the Swedish event and her fourth title of the season when she birdied the last two holes and carded a one-under 69 for a one-shot win over compatriot Lisa Pettersson.
On the DP World Tour, South Africa's Thriston Lawrence claimed his second title of the season when he beat England's Matt Wallace in a playoff on his debut in the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre.
The South African began the day with a three-shot lead, but while Wallace shot a four-under 66 to his 69 to force sudden-death on 18-under, the Englishman three-putted the 18th in the playoff.
"All of the history around this tournament, looking at Seve there twice, 1977, 78, I wasn't even born yet," said Lawrence (25), who won a 36-hole Joburg Open in November. "Just crazy to see the history around this tournament. It's my first time here, and it's probably one of my favourite weeks. Definitely coming back, it's been amazing."
On the Challenge Tour, Paul McBride recorded his best finish on the second-tier tour since turning professional when he tied for 13th behind Sweden's Mikael Lindberg in the weather-reduced Indoor Golf Group Challenge in Helsingborg.
The 2017 Walker Cup star (26) was two-over after six holes of the final round but played the remainder in three-under as he posted a one-under 70 to finish seven shots behind the winner on 10-under par.
Lindberg closed with a five-under 66 to win event, reduced to 54 holes due to heavy rainfall on Saturday, by three shots from Denmark's Nicolai Tinning, England's Steven Tiley and France's Robin Sciot-Siegrist.
Tom McKibbin shot 72 and Gavin Moynihan 70 to leave them tied 52nd on five-under.
Meanwhile, Ireland's Beth Coulter. Anna Foster and Lauren Walsh tied for 16th on 11-over as Sweden won the Espirito Santo Trophy for the third time at Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche on Saturday.
The Swedes and Americans tied at 13-under par 559, but after comparing non-counting scores, a one-over-par 73 from Sweden's Louise Rydqvist was one stroke better than Rachel Kuehn's 74 giving Sweden the gold medal and the USA the silver by one stroke from Germany and Japan, who tied for the bronze
