Rory McIlroy ended a 16-month title drought on the PGA Tour with a brilliant last-day charge, winning the Deutsche Bank Championship by two shots in the United States.
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The Northern Ireland star laid the foundations for a two-stroke victory over England’s Paul Casey with a bewitching front nine performance, sinking five birdies to be five under at the turn. No, a postseason victory can’t completely make up for his failure to get the job done at the majors this summer, but it was still his first PGA Tour win in almost sixteen months.
Ranked 38th in the Fed-Ex Cup after the Barclays last week he jumped to fourth in the standings with the win, pushing Adam Scott down one position to fifth.
McIlroy, who was four over after the first three holes in the opening round, said: “It’s just awesome how things can change in this game”.
“Those last 15 holes on Friday were definitely a turning point, not just in this tournament, but maybe in my season, to play the last 15 holes in four-under”, McIlroy told the Golf Channel. “I think even finishing in the top 10 after that start on Friday would have been a very respectable result, but to be sitting up here and have won the tournament, I’m very proud of myself for that”.
Only a month ago at the final major of the season, the PGA Championship, McIlroy described his work on the greens as pathetic.
Walker was a further shot back in third place at 12 under.
The world No 5 did well to get up and down to save par at the sixth, and his sublime bunker play set up another birdie at the next before his new-found confidence on the greens shone through when he holed from just inside 20 feet at the eighth.
World No. 1 Jason Day continued his climb up the leaderboard, closing with a 67 en route to a tie for 15th.
The 27-year-old earned his 12th career PGA Tour win, the third-youngest player to accomplish the feat in Tour history.
The play-offs now move to Crooked Stick GC in IN for the BMW Championship. And, then, having recovered to make a charge over the weekend, McIlroy still went into the final round playing catch-up on Casey. “I just had positive vibes going in there”.
After shooting a final round 65 to overturn a six shot deficit and win the Deutsche Bank Championship yesterday, McIlroy maintained that his workout regime is key to the success he has achieved as a golfer.
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The Ulsterman was at his vintage best to hunt down and overturn Paul Casey’s six-shot lead with an exhibition of whirlwind shots in appropriately blustery conditions. He switched from a Nike putter to a Scotty Cameron mallet-style model and formalized a working relationship with putting guru Phil Kenyon, who has previously helped the likes of Henrik Stenson and Louis Oosthuizen.
