The four-time major victor, who has come under fire from ex-players and now golf analysts Brandel Chamblee and Johnny Miller, started the final round at TPC Boston six shots behind Paul Casey – but overcame the Englishman with a six-under-par 65 to win by two strokes.
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American Jimmy Walker, who landed his first major title at the PGA Championship in July, carded a 70 to finish third at 12-under in the second of the PGA Tour’s four playoff events, with Scott (65) a further stroke back.
It was McIlroy’s first victory since clearing Patrick Rodgers and Webb Simpson by seven shots at the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship. “I struggled a little bit from the get-go and it’s hard to regain rhythm and make your birdies if you started out that way, so I found it incredibly difficult”.
“I am hopefully going to ride this momentum through to the Tour Championships and then hopefully, once I do well there and maybe win the FedEx Cup, turn my attentions to the Ryder Cup and help Team Europe win a fourth one of those in a row”. But I feel good about the game.
The birdies would slow on the back nine, but already 14 under, McIlroy would just need a steady hand over the final nine to get the job done.
A large group of players tied for eighth at nine-under, rounding out the top 10: Dustin Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen, Ryan Moore, Kevin Chappell, Jason Kokrak, Billy Hurley III and David Hearn.
He limited the damage to a bogey and then pushed his second to the long 18th into the right greenside bunker, but another near-perfect splash-out left him a tap-in for a closing birdie which restored his two-shot lead on 15-under par.
Boston loves an Ulsterman, and McIlroy loves Boston, his victory at the Deutsche Bank Championship his second in four years.
“To me it looks like he hasn’t got so frustrated this year, he’s just kept doing his thing”. He also moves to No. 3 in the world ranking – he was fifth heading into the week, his lowest position in more than two years.
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.
The 27-year-old earned his 12th career PGA Tour win, the third-youngest player to accomplish the feat in Tour history. McIlroy also switched putters last week at Bethpage Black, though he was at the bottom of the pack in putting.
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The final event of the FedEx Cup takes place at the Tour Championship between September 22-25 – just five days before the Ryder Cup between the United States and Europe starts at Hazeltine.
