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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McIlroy, who was four over after the first three holes in the opening round, said: “It’s just fantastic how things can change in this game”.
“So 69 holes later I played some great golf and holed some great putts”.
Not just a trophy, but a belt, too.
Not quite, but certainly a step in that direction. 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.
McIlroy was four over through the first three holes of the championship, but he roared back into contention at the weekend before sealing victory with a six under par final round of 65.
It wasn’t the gathering remnants of tropical storm Hermine that blew third round leader Paul Casey off course at The Deutsche Bank Championship when it breezed into Boston during the final round.
Casey started the final round with a three-shot lead in his bid for his first PGA Tour victory since 2009, but he closed with a 73. But even he admitted later: “If it was like this at home, I’d be reluctant to play”.
“It was a very simple fix”, he said.
Walker was within two of the lead when his drive bounced into the woods right of the 10th fairway and led to bogey, and Walker burned the edges of the cup with so many other birdie attempts. “I battled well, did a lot of things brilliantly all week, but obviously frustrated, just fell short at the last”.
But his undulating putt from the back of the green raced 10 feet past the hole to secure McIlroy’s first PGA Tour triumph since May 2015.
Casey finished in second spot, one shot clear of Jimmy Walker in third. Four years ago, McIlroy won at TPC Boston and Crooked Stick in successive tournaments. The Canadian jumped 33 places, from 92nd to 59th, thanks to a tie for eighth. He finished in a tie for 57th, but has still done enough to move on to the next event. He dropped from No. 58 to 65 in the standings, but can still qualify for the Tour championship with a strong finish.
McIlroy had a 2-putt birdie at the par-5 second and added another at the fourth after hitting his second shot from the greenside bunker to 21⁄2 feet. “I wasn’t getting impatient, I wasn’t searching for things”.
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“But for the past 12 months, I’ve still had three wins worldwide”. “Excited with how my game is and what I’ve 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”. “… If I could go out and play the front nine like I did yesterday, I actually ended up playing it one shot better today, I knew I had a real chance”.
