For Scott, his 65 catapulted him 19 spots up the leaderboard into outright fourth.
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McIlroy held on to win by two strokes over Paul Casey, securing his 12th PGA TOUR title and second at TPC Boston. “It’s a big part of who I am, it’s a big part of my success”.
McIlroy made it three straight birdies with an assured 10-foot putt at nine to complete an outward 31, although he mis-read a great chance from seven feet at the 11th before atoning at the next.
Rory McIlroy tees off on the third hole during the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship golf tournament.
The final group -Casey (73), Smylie Kaufman (76) and Brian Harman (77) – were a combined 13 over for the round.
This latest victory was unlikely on a number of counts, given he laboured in his first round on Friday and was four-over through only three holes. He ranked 70th in putting at the Barclays last week, but finished seventh for the same stat at TPC Boston. It took him to Phil Kenyon, a British putting guru who works with Henrik Stenson and Louis Oosthuizen, and who was working with Justin Rose a month before Rose won the gold medal in Rio. Several of his seven birdies came with the help of pinpoint bunker shots and the win was all the sweeter for coming on the back of a awful start which saw him four over after the opening three holes.
McIlroy’s reaction said it all as the ball clipped the hole after an huge 210 yard shot.
“I am excited with how my game is and what I have found this week, and hopefully I can keep it going for the next couple of tournaments, but ultimately into the Ryder Cup and trying to get a fourth one of those”, he added.
“If I can put four rounds together in one of the next two weeks, I’ll be really happy”, said Scott. “I battled well, did a lot of things brilliantly all week, but obviously frustrated, just fell short at the last”.
Scott and Day are both well in the mix to become the first Australians to win the season long race, Scott a former victor of the Tour Championship the year before the FedEx Cup began in 2007.
He shot 67 in the second round, then ended his third round with a 3-iron that caught the lip of the cup on the par-5 18th hole, settling for a tap-in eagle and a 66.
He reached 15 under after birdieing No. 12, but dropped a shot with his first bogey at No. 17.
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It is the first PGA Tour title he has claimed in 16 months. However, after dumping his approach shot at No. 18 in the green side bunker, McIlroy got up and down for a birdie.
