There has been no bigger and more vocal booster of the PGA Tour this year in the face of the challenge from the LIV Tour than Rory McIlroy. So, there was a sense of justice that he was able to capitalize on Scottie Scheffler’s mistakes in the final round of the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta to go on to win this event and the FedEx Cup, both for the third time.
The way the Tour Championship is structured, Scheffler began with an edge over the rest of the field. In McIlroy’s case, a six-stroke advantage, a margin that only grew after McIlroy drove his opening tee shot on Thursday out of bounds and cleaned up with a triple-bogey, followed by bogey at the second hole. That left McIlroy staring at a 10-shot gap.
Yet, McIlroy hung in, rebounded with an eagle-3 at the sixth hole and made the turn only a stroke over par. He then played the back nine in 31 for 67. He had five fewer birdies on Friday but finished with the same 67.
Another eagle at the sixth hole on Saturday contributed to a third-round 63, which entitled McIlroy to partner Scheffler on Sunday, although still six strokes behind but that would soon change.
Both men bogeyed the first hole, yet that was the first of three such blemishes on the front side for Scheffler, who admitted to struggling throughout the final round. McIlroy, meanwhile, went on a tear, posting four birdies over a five-hole span beginning at the third.
Scheffler wasn’t any more effective on the back nine, which he played a stroke over par, while McIlroy mixed two birdies with a bogey. Yet, it was a par save at 16 that gave McIlroy the lead. A flop shot from behind the green ran hot, struck the pin and stopped seven feet away. He drained that, while Scheffler found enough trouble to give him a bogey. They played the final two holes evenly to provide McIlroy with a winning advantage of one stroke.
“Honestly, I wasn't really giving myself much of a chance teeing off in the fourth round,” McIlroy said. “I thought silver lining was I was playing in the last group so I could at least keep an eye on what [Scheffler] was doing if things didn't quite work out for him, and thankfully I was in that last group because I was able to put some pressure on him early on, and then that coupled with him not having his best stuff today was actually -- I felt like going into the back nine, not that it was mine to lose, but I had all the momentum.
“Really proud of my resilience and how I sort of handled that start and just sort of stuck my head down and kept going all week and took advantage of the opportunity that I was given today.”
McIlroy will take this week off and then head to Europe, where he’s astride the top of the DP World Tour rankings, to compete in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
With an eagle at the first hole in the third and final round of The Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Mich., Padraig Harrington tied Scott Dunlap for the lead and appeared to be on his way to a possible second victory in as many weeks. But then the script changed.
Harrington went cold, taking no more strokes off par until the 14th hole. By then, Steve Stricker had gotten rolling and had passed both Harrington and Dunlap en route to a one-stroke victory over Brett Quigley. Harrington and Dunlap tied for fourth place, three strokes short of Stricker.
Harrington put himself into contention with bogey-free rounds of 68 and 66 on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Among his birdies were consecutive spells on 12 and 13 both days. But just when he needed most to gain some strokes, he came up barren there, suffering bogey and then par on Sunday.
There is no event on this circuit this week. Next week, Harrington is expected to tee off at Wentworth.
EUROPRO TOUR
Sam Broadhurst won the Northern Ireland Masters at Clandeboye in County Down by a stroke over Paul Maddy. Broadhurst (71-64-69), the overnight leader going into the final round, birdied 18 to avoid a playoff with Maddy (72-65-68).
Conor O’Rourke was co-low at 67 for the third and final round, which allowed him to finish joint-third and claim honors as top Irish finisher at 206 (67-72-67). Stuart Grehan (69-69-71) was another three strokes back amidst a trio that shared fifth place.
John-Ross Galbraith and Dermot McElroy took slices of 11th place, seven strokes off Broadhurst’s winning number. Galbraith (66-76-69) held the first-round lead but was hampered by three double bogeys in the second round. McElroy (69-69-73) began the final round just three strokes behind Broadhurst, but three birdies in four holes after making the turn finished him off.
As a silver lining, however, McElroy pocketed enough change to move up to second place in the Tour’s Order of Merit. Nestled in the top five, he is still on target to move up to the Challenge Tour in 2023. Four more events remain on the calendar, including the October 19-21 finale at the Lough Erne Resort in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.
