Rory McIlroy rallies to win Tour Championship, third FedEx Cup title

ATLANTA — Rory McIlroy, the strongest voice for the PGA Tour in a tumultuous year, had the final say with his clubs Sunday when he rallied from 6 shots behind to win the Tour Championship and capture the FedEx Cup for the third time.

McIlroy won $18 million, pushing his PGA Tour earnings to over $26 million for the season. He closed with a 4-under 66 to overtake Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, who made only one birdie in a 73.

Scheffler was hoping to cap off the best year in golf with the FedEx Cup title. Instead, his entry in the record book was tying a PGA Tour record for losing the largest 54-hole lead. The last one to do that was Dustin Johnson in 2017 at the HSBC Champions.

Sungjae Im fell back with a double bogey on the 14th hole and still managed a 66 to tie for second with Scheffler.

McIlroy referred to the final round as a «spectacle,» and not just because of the pro-McIlroy crowd that chanted his name along the closing holes.

«Two of the best players in the world going head-to-head on the best tour,» he said.

McIlroy needed plenty of help from Scheffler, the No. 1 seed, who began with a 2-shot lead and never trailed until the 70th hole. Scheffler, who birdied four of six holes Sunday morning to finish the third round and build a 6-shot lead, lost it in the first seven holes.

And then it was a nail-biter to the very end, a stunning afternoon at East Lake that turned on two shots.

McIlroy holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 15th hole to tie for the lead. After he flew the green by some 20 yards, his pitch was running fast and headed off the front of the green when it hit the pin and settled 7 feet away.

He saved par. Scheffler blasted out of a bunker to just inside 10 feet and missed, making bogey that