Rory McIlroy became the first player to win three Tour Championships when he pulled off a remarkable comeback victory at East Lake on Sunday. It is McIlroy's 22nd PGA Tour win, and earns him $18 million.
It was an unlikely victory for McIlroy. He began the tournament on Thursday with a triple bogey and bogey on his opening two holes. Going into the final round, he found himself six shots behind leader and world number one Scottie Scheffler.
However, a poor round of 73 from Scheffler allowed McIlroy - who shot 66 - and others to eat into his lead. A superb 31-foot putt on the 15th brought McIlroy level at 21-under, his eventual winning score. He took the lead on the 16th when Scheffler bogeyed and he parred.
There was drama to 18th as McIlroy's second shot hit the grandstand and Scheffler landed in the bunker, but both parred the final hole giving the Northern Irishman the win.
Rory McIlroy's final round to win Tour Championship
"I got back out here today to finish my third round," McIlroy said during his post-victory press conference.
"I had two holes left and finished those the exact way I wanted to, with two birdies, and thought I'd be maybe three, four back going into the final day, and then he reels off four birdies in the last six holes, and I'm six behind.
"Honestly, I wasn't really giving myself much of a chance teeing off in the fourth round. I thought silver lining was I was playing in the last group so I could at least keep an eye on what he was doing if things didn't quite work out for him, and thankfully I was in that last group because I was able to put some pressure on him early on, and then that coupled with him not having his best stuff today was actually... I felt like going into the back nine, not that it was mine to lose, but I had all the momentum.
"Going out today, I was like, if I can get it within three going into the back nine, I thought that that would be a really good front nine holes. I think we were tied for the lead on the 10th tee.
"Yeah, incredible day, incredible week. four-over through two holes, 10 shots out of the lead, at that point to claw my way back and end up winning the tournament, incredible. Just a really, really proud of my resilience and how I sort of handled that start and just sort of stuck my head down and kept going all week and took advantage of the opportunity that I was given today."
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