Rory McIlroy has almost blended into the background since winning the Masters this spring to complete the career Grand Slam. The five-time major champion, like the rest of the PGA Tour, has gotten pushed aside as Scottie Scheffler has dominated the conversation for the past four months.
But McIlroy is one of a handful of top-ranked players in the field for this week’s Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club thought to have a fighting chance to deny Scheffler a second consecutive FedEx Cup and the $10 million bonus.
McIlroy has been in a similar position and done the same thing.
That was in 2022, his most recent of three Tour Champions, when he beat Scheffler on the final day to win the big money. That came under the old Tour Championship “starting strokes” format, abandoned this year, which gave an advantage to players based on how they performed during the season.
Scheffler was the No. 1 seed in 2022, but McIlroy — who started the week in seventh place — shot 62-66 on the weekend to win by a shot. McIlroy even celebrated by sending a van full of pizzas and beer to the media center, a trend that didn’t exactly catch fire.
McIlroy won in 2019, despite starting in fifth place, and beat Xander Schauffele by four shots. And in 2016, when the tournament was played as a straight-up stroke play event — as it will be this week — he shot a 12-under 268 and won by a shot.
“We’ve played this event and this golf course in a bunch of different formats,” McIlroy said. “The nines have been flipped. There’s been a golf course renovation over the years, which I think is actually very good. I was re-familiarizing myself with that today.”
McIlroy didn’t hate the “starting strokes” formula and said it rewarded the golfer who had played the best during the regular season.
“You could argue that if it was starting strokes this week, Scottie with a two-shot lead, it probably isn’t enough considering what he’s done and the lead he has in the FedEx Cup going into this week,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy will be paired for Scheffler at 2 p.m. in the final group of the first round Thursday.
Since his win at Augusta, McIlroy’s season has been solid. He made the cut in three other majors but was not a factor in the outcome. He finished the regular season with three consecutive top-10 finishes, including a tie for second at the Scottish Open. He skipped the first playoff event and tied for 12th at the BMW Championship. McIlroy finished second to Scheffler in the FedEx Cup points and money ($16,597,418).
“Look, it has a different feel,” McIlroy said. “Any one of the 30 has a chance to win the FedEx Cup this year. I think with a clean slate for everyone, it’s a great opportunity for one of the guys that maybe wasn’t a huge part of the season to put their hand up and have a chance to win the big prize at the end of the year.”
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