Rory McIlroy, of Northern Eire, holds the championship trophy after successful the ultimate spherical of the Tour Championship golf event at East Lake Golf Membership, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022, in Atlanta.
Steve Helber | AP Picture
Rory McIlroy, the strongest voice for the PGA Tour in a tumultuous 12 months, had the ultimate say together with his golf equipment Sunday when he rallied from six photographs behind to win the Tour Championship and seize the FedEx Cup for the third time.
McIlroy received $18 million, pushing his PGA Tour earnings to over $26 million for the season. He closed with a 4-under 66 to overhaul Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, who made just one birdie in a 73.
Sungjae Im fell again with a double bogey on the 14th gap and nonetheless managed a 66 to tie for second with Scheffler.
McIlroy referred to the ultimate spherical of a “spectacle,” and never simply due to the pro-McIlroy crowd that chanted his identify alongside the closing holes.
“Two of the most effective gamers on the earth going head on the most effective tour,” he mentioned.
McIlroy wanted loads of assist from Scheffler, the No. 1 seed, who started with a two-shot lead and by no means trailed till the seventieth gap. Scheffler, who birdied 4 of six holes Sunday morning to complete the third spherical and construct a six-shot lead, misplaced it within the first seven holes.
After which it was a nail-biter to the very finish, a shocking afternoon at East Lake that turned on two photographs.
McIlroy holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fifteenth gap to tie for the lead. After he flew the inexperienced by some 20 yards, his pitch was operating quick and headed off the entrance of the inexperienced when it hit the pin and settled 7 toes away.
He saved par. Scheffler missed his 10-footer and took bogey, they usually matched pars the remainder of the way in which.
Scheffler’s 4-iron on the par-5 18th sailed brief and proper and right into a bunker, and he blasted out over the inexperienced. McIlroy went left towards the grandstand, took aid and obtained onto the inexperienced for a straightforward par.
McIlroy received in 2016 in a playoff. He received the FedEx Cup once more in 2019, the primary 12 months of a staggered begin. However this may need been the sweetest of fall, coming off a 12 months during which the PGA Tour has been in a nasty battle for gamers with Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
It was McIlroy who has declared fierce loyalty to the PGA Tour over the previous couple of years, and who joined Tiger Woods in main a momentous player-only assembly final week that led to important modifications forward.
“I consider within the recreation of golf. I consider on this tour, specifically. I consider within the gamers on this tour,” McIlroy mentioned within the trophy presentation. “It is the best place on the earth to play golf, bar none, and I’ve performed throughout.”
Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., the lone Canadian within the occasion, shot 67 on Sunday to complete twenty sixth at 3 underneath.
