It takes 72 holes to win a PGA Tour golf tournament, and that’s a good thing for Rory McIlroy.
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After nearly a year and a half without a victory, the world number five produced a stunning final round to win the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.
Casey, who started Sunday’s third round one shot behind leader Kevin Chappell at TPC Boston, was one under through four after a bogey on three, but reeled off three birdies in a row from the fifth and added another on 16 before closing with a brilliant eagle at the par-five 18th.
Still, his runner-up showing moved Casey to 10 on the FedEx Cup points list and virtually assured him a spot at the Tour Championship.
From there, it seemed merely a formality as the Northern Irishman played the last 69 holes at 19 under to secure a two-stroke victory, his second in the event, in the annual Labor Day weekend tournament at TPC Boston. That club has given him fits all year as he has switched and then un-switched grips and still only ranks 130th on Tour in strokes gained: putting, giving up.135 shots per round on the green.
On the flipside of McIlroy’s glee, Casey squandered a chance at his long-awaited second PGA Tour win. McIlroy also switched putters last week at Bethpage Black, though he was at the bottom of the pack in putting.
“Hopefully with this momentum I can play well in the remaining two FedEx Cup events and then take the form into the Ryder Cup and help team Europe win another one of those”.
Even so, his struggles with the putter are a big reason McIlroy plunged from No. 1 in the world almost one year ago to No. 5, removing him from the recent “Big 3” conversation and at times making him an afterthought.
The final group -Casey (73), Smylie Kaufman (76) and Brian Harman (77) – were a combined 13 over for the round. “I mean, it’s just incredible, this game, how quickly things can change and how quickly things can turn around”.
McIlroy was four over after the first three holes of his first round, but his recovery after that poor start was outstanding.
South African Louis Oosthuizen also made a significant move up the leaderboard yesterday, shooting a seven-under par 64 to join McIlroy at nine-under.
Olympic champion Justin Rose, who began the day level with McIlroy on nine under, fell away badly after an eight-over-par 79, thanks largely to two triple bogeys on the back nine. Jordan Spieth didn’t fare much better.
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However Baddeley and Leishman will both need to make a major statement this week if they are to be among the top 30 players who advance to the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta. “I know that I hadn’t won on the PGA Tour in a while, but over the past 12 months, I’ve still had three wins worldwide”.
