In retrospect, the ongoing narrative this year had been a tad aggressive when it came to McIlroy, fueled more by unrealistic expectations than practical experience.
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In July, he described his putting as “pathetic” after missing the cut at the UPGA Championship at Baltusrol, but in Boston he emerged top in putting average and birdies made.
Casey needed an eagle to force extra holes and he gave himself a chance when he found the back of the green in two, but raced his 60-foot putt past the pin and then missed the return as McIlroy celebrated a remarkable victory in the clubhouse. But the last 69 holes at TPC Boston were a completely different story.
McIlroy bogeyed his second hole Friday and stumbled to a triple-bogey on his third, but he turned things around and was 4 under through his last 15 holes to get back even and within five shots of the lead. The reason I play at such a high level and hopefully will continue to play at a high level for the next 10.
“It was a very simple fix”, he said.
“Over the last few days he’s obviously been playing pretty well”.
Over the long Labor Day weekend, McIlroy managed to answer three big questions.
He was six shots behind leader Paul Casey, however in the final round he won by a two-shot victory.
But it was McIlroy who grabbed the world headlines with his 20 career win. That is all except McIlroy and Adam Scott, who both fired the lowest round of day. “I wasn’t searching”, McIlroy said. “I was thinking, ‘Here we go again, ‘ and that it was going to be a little bit of a grind and a bit of a struggle”.
Of the improvement in his putting, McIlroy said it was still “a work in progress”.
“He’s been on the practice green every time I’ve been there and before and after [a round]”, said Jordan Spieth, who tied for 21 at the third playoff stop. “That’s something I feel like I’ve got better at over the last three or four years”.
McIlroy posted a 15-under 269 for the second of four playoff events and surged into contention for the FedEx Cup.
The Northern Irishman’s victory elevated him from 38th to fourth in the FedExCup standings heading into the BMW Championship this week and the world number three is hungry for more success in what has been an underwhelming year. If I wasn’t in the gym, I wouldn’t be sitting here today.
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Hard opening Winning hadn’t been on his mind after a hard opening three holes of a first round where it seemed a battle to survive the cut was uppermost in his thoughts.
