BIt couldn’t have gone any better for Rory McIlroy and the PGA Tour in the finals of the 2021/2022 season. With the 33-year-old Northern Irishman, not only the absolute crowd favorite won the Tour Championship and thus the FedExCup season standings in Atlanta (Georgia) on Sunday. The golf pro also won, who in the past few weeks and months has developed into the leading figure and eloquent fighter for this series of tournaments against the competition financed by Saudi Arabia, LIV Golf.
On Sunday McIlroy defeated the American world number one Scottie Scheffler in a direct duel and was rewarded for his third FedExCup success after 2016 and 2019 with a record sum of 18 million dollars (around 18 million euros). In an interview, he then demonstrated his loyalty to the PGA Tour and his lack of understanding for renegades like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau: “This is the best golf series in the world. This is where the competition is most intense. The best players are here. I don’t know why anyone would want to play anywhere else.”
Failed start by McIlroy
It is well known why these former major winners switched and accepted expulsion from the PGA Tour: huge sums of money. According to British newspapers, world number two Cameron Smith will be recruited for the “Saudi League” by his compatriot Greg Norman for at least 100 million dollars (around 100 million euros) in the next few days and will probably be near Boston this weekend make LIV debut.
At the East Lake Golf Club, the Australian British Open winner completed the first two rounds together with McIlroy, whom he had caught on the final day of the Open six weeks ago in St. Andrews (Scotland). But at the East Lake Golf Club he played only a supporting role. He finished twentieth, earning him $640,000.
McIlroy, on the other hand, managed to catch up after a failed start on Thursday. His first tee shot of the tournament had landed in the off. After a triple bogey and another bogey, he was ten shots behind Scheffler. But “Rors”, as his colleagues call him, remembered that a few weeks ago South Korean Joohyung “Tom” Kim had won the Wyndham Championship despite a quadruple bogey on the first hole.
“Anything is possible in golf,” said McIlroy. Especially when, like the new third in the world rankings, you hit the ball the furthest and putt second best at the Tour Championship. On Sunday, McIlroy only needed 25 putts – a dramatic improvement from the British Open, where he squandered the win with 36 putts on the final day.
That sensitivity on and around the green helped McIlroy close a six-stroke deficit on Sunday, a Tour Championship record. Scheffler, who had had the most success this season with four wins, including the Masters, did not find his game: After starting the tournament with rounds of 65, 66 and 66, he needed 73 strokes on the final day, the worst Result of all 29 participants.
He shared second place with South Korean Sungjae Im, both of whom won $5.75 million. “I was lucky that Scottie wasn’t having his best day and I was able to capitalize on my good game,” said McIlroy, whose final round of 66 shots left Scheffler and Im a shot behind.
Not only was McIlroy happy about his 22nd victory on the PGA Tour, he also worked with Tiger Woods to ensure that the PGA Tour changed its tournament schedule in 2023. Jay Monahan, the tournament series commissioner, followed the advice of 23 players who met with Woods two weeks ago. They pledged that next year the best in the world will meet in 17 elevated tournaments, each with a $20 million prize pool.
McIlroy will compete in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth near London next week. In contrast to the PGA Tour, “Saudi golfers” are also allowed to compete in the flagship tournament of the DP World Tour – a nuisance not only for McIlroy.
