Rory McIlroy surges from six shots back to capture FedEx Cup title and $18 million
Rory McIlroy, the strongest voice for the PGA Tour in a tumultuous year, had the final say with his clubs Sunday when he rallied from six shots behind to win the Tour Championship and capture the FedEx Cup for the third time.
McIlroy won $18 million, pushing his PGA Tour earnings to over $26 million for the season. He closed with a four-under 66 to overtake Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, who made only one birdie in a 73.
Sungjae Im fell back with a double bogey on the 14th hole and still managed a 66 to tie for second with Scheffler.
McIlroy referred to the final round as a “spectacle,” and not just because of the pro-McIlroy crowd that chanted his name along the closing holes.
“Two of the best players in the world going head-to-head on the best tour,” he said.
USC coach Lincoln Riley has molded his version of the Air Raid offense throughout his career, adjusting it to best fit his personnel each year.
McIlroy needed plenty of help from Scheffler, the No. 1 seed, who began with a two-shot lead and never trailed until the 70th hole. Scheffler, who birdied four of six holes Sunday morning to finish the third round and build a six-shot lead, lost it in the first seven holes.
And then it was a nail-biter to the very end, a stunning afternoon at East Lake that turned on two shots.
McIlroy holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 15th hole to tie for the lead. After he flew the green by some 20 yards, his pitch was running fast and headed off the front of the green when it hit the pin and settled 7 feet away.
He saved par. Scheffler missed his 10-footer and took bogey, and they matched pars the rest of the way.
Scheffler’s 4-iron on the par-5 18th sailed short and right and into a bunker, and he blasted out over the green. McIlroy went left against the grandstand, took relief and got onto the green for an easy par.
McIlroy won in 2016 in a playoff. He won the FedEx Cup again in 2019, the first year of a staggered start. But this might have been the sweetest of all, coming off a year in which the PGA Tour has been in a nasty battle for players with Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
It was McIlroy who has declared fierce loyalty to the PGA Tour over the last few years, and who joined Tiger Woods in leading a momentous player-only meeting last week that led to significant changes ahead.
“I believe in the game of golf. I believe in this tour, in particular. I believe in the players on this tour,” McIlroy said in the trophy presentation. “It’s the greatest place in the world to play golf, bar none, and I’ve played all over.”
LPGA
OTTAWA, Canada — Paula Reto won the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open for her first LPGA Tour victory, closing with a four-under 67 for a one-stroke victory over Nelly Korda and Hye-Jin Choi.
“I’m really, really excited and just proud of myself for being able to stick through the shots and the routines,“ Reto said. “Sometimes, I find that’s really hard to do, especially if you know you have only a few holes left.”
Reto finished at 19-under 265 at Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club. The 32-year-old South African opened with a course-record 62.
She’s the fourth South African winner on the LPGA Tour, following Sally Little, Lee-Anne Pace and Ashleigh Buhai — the British Women’s Open champion this year.
PGA Champions Tour
GRAND BLANC, Mich. — Steve Stricker won The Ally Challenge at Warwick Hills for his second PGA Tour Champions victory of the season and ninth overall.
Stricker closed with a 5-under 67 — rebounding from a bogey on the 12th with four straight birdies — for a one-stroke victory over Brett Quigley.
The 55-year-old Stricker also won the major Regions Tradition in May in Alabama.
Quigley finished with a 68.
Jeff Maggert was third at 13 under after a 65.
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