McIlroy unlikely FedEx Cup champ
He rallies for title with big comeback at Tour Championship
Rory McIlroy holed two shots on the 16th hole at East Lake that made him a most unlikely FedEx Cup champion on Sunday.
The first one he didn’t even see go in.
Three shots behind with three holes to play at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, McIlroy holed a pitching wedge from 137 yards for eagle that gave him the spark he needed to close with a 6-under 64 and join a three-way playoff with the FedEx Cup title riding on the outcome.
“I knew I was right back in the golf tournament,” he said.
Four playoff holes later on the 16th, after Ryan Moore made a par putt from just outside 15 feet, McIlroy knocked in his 15-foot birdie putt to win two trophies that he desperately wanted — the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup.
“Just to see that ball drop, and everything that’s come together for me this year … to pull it off was really special,” McIlroy said, his voice still hoarse from screaming over so many quality shots, so many clutch moments over the final two hours at East Lake.
McIlroy picked up $11.53 million in one day — the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus and $1.53 million for the Tour Championship, his second victory in three weeks that made him the first player to win four FedEx Cup playoff events.
His only hope was to win the Tour Championship and have Dustin Johnson finish worse than second alone. Johnson closed with a 73 and tied for sixth.
In its 10th year, the FedEx Cup never had a finish like this.
Moore, who might have done enough to earn that last captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup, missed an 8foot birdie putt by the slimmest of margins on the par-5 18th hole in regulation for a 64. In the playoff, he holed a 10-foot birdie putt with McIlroy facing a 6-foot eagle putt for the victory. McIlroy missed.
Even on the final hole, Moore gave McIlroy everything he had. His chip over a ridge raced well past the hole, and it looked as though McIlroy would only have to two-putt for the victory. Instead, Moore holed another big putt.
“I just wanted to make him earn it for that much money at least,” Moore said. “I wanted him to make the putt. It was nice to get up and make it, but you give a great player like him that many opportunities, and he’s going to make one eventually.”
Web.com Tour: Grayson Murray won the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio, and Cameron Smith and Kevin Tway wrapped up PGA Tour cards. Already guaranteed a PGA Tour card with an 18th-place finish on the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list, Murray closed with a 3-under 68 to beat Smith by a stroke.
Champions Tour: Colin Montgomerie won the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship in Victoria, British Columbia, outlasting Scott McCarron with a birdie on the third hole of a playoff.
European Tour: France’s Alexander Levy won the shortened European Open in Bad Griesbach, Germany, beating England’s Ross Fisher with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff. Levy finished with a 2-under 69, and Fisher shot 64 to match at 19-under 194.