Rory McIlroy allayed any fears that he had lost his mojo – and his form with the putter – following a stunning come-from-behind victory in the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston in America.
The 27 year old fired a closing 65 on Monday for a two-shot victory over Paul Casey, whom he had trailed by six with 18 holes to play, after the Englishman fired three consecutive 66s.
In breezy conditions, McIlroy played the front nine in 31, and reached the top of the leaderboard by the 8th, while a dropped shot on the 17th was his only aberration of the round. His nerveless greenside bunker shot at the last, which triggered a birdie, virtually sealed the deal, although Casey, who looked tentative throughout the final round, still had a 60-foot eagle putt on the last to force a play-off, which slipped past the hole and resulted in a two-over-par 73.
Victory in the second leg of the FedEx Cup brings the potential of a ¢10 million pay day sharply into focus for McIlroy, while Darren Clarke will be breathing a huge sigh of relief that his top-ranked player is coming into some late season form, following a summer which has seen the Northern Irishman miss the cut in two of this seasons majors and, at times, look hopelessly out of form on and around the greens.
The sudden improvement is partly down to the input of putting guru Phil Kenyon, to whom McIlroy turned following his early exit from the US PGA Championship at Baltusrol last month, while a change of putter, to a Scotty Cameron mallet from his previous Nike blade, must also have freshened up his form with the flatstick.
“I played some great golf and holed some great putts this week,” said McIlroy, who moved up to the No.3 in the world rankings following his win. “Three holes in, at four over par, there were a lot of things going through my mind, and one of them was not winning this tournament. But here we are, 69 holes later, and 19 under par for that spell.
“I am really proud of myself for battling that first day, getting some momentum on Saturday, and just going with that. It is nice to get that first win in the States this year. Hopefully this is momentum I can bring on to the next couple of weeks and ultimately the Ryder Cup to hopefully help Team Europe win another one of those. I’m really excited going into the last part of the season.”
Further down the leaderboard, Russell Knox, overlooked for selection by Clarke last week, threatened to reinvigorate that debate when playing his first nine holes of the final round in 30, although a back nine of 36 saw him finished in a share of 15th to show there has been no negative impact after his failure to get a wildcard for Hazeltine.
Jim Furyk’s hopes of a captain’s pick for the US team were damaged by the failure to survive for the closing two tournaments of the FedEx series, which leaves the door open for the likes of JB Holmes to get the nod.