Rory McIlroy shot a superb six-under-par 65 to end his 16-month PGA Tour title drought with victory in the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday.
The Northern Ireland star laid the foundations for a two-stroke victory over England’s Paul Casey with a bewitching front nine performance, sinking five birdies to be five under at the turn.
Two more birdies and a bogey on the back nine at TPC Boston sealed a deserved win for the 27-year-old, whose last win on the PGA Tour came at the Wells Fargo Championship in May 2015.
The win earned McIlroy another $1.53mn and will see him move up to third in the next set of world rankings.
It also catapulted him from 38th to fourth place in the standings for the lucrative FedExCup post-season series.
The win completed a remarkable turnaround for McIlroy, who had got off to a disastrous start in his opening round on Friday to be four over par after his first three holes.
“It’s amazing in this game how things can change so quickly,” McIlroy said.
“From three holes in — four over par — there were a lot of things going through my mind, and one of them was not winning this tournament,” he added.
“So 69 holes later — I played some great golf and holed some great putts. I’m just really proud of myself, how I hung in there on the first day and then got some momentum on Saturday. Then I just went with it.
“It’s nice to get that first win in the States this year and hopefully I can take this momentum into the next couple of weeks and ultimately the Ryder Cup.”
 
Wilting Rose
Third round leader Casey had begun the day three shots clear, but saw his challenge unravel after posting four bogeys in a two-over-par 73 to finish second.
PGA champion Jimmy Walker finished three adrift of McIlroy after shooting a 70.
Australia’s world number six Adam Scott was alone in fourth place after a six-under-par 65, but had left himself too much work to do to challenge for the lead.
Patrick Reed, James Hahn and Argentina’s Fabian Gomez all tied for fifth place, 10 under for the tournament, five behind McIlroy.
US Open champion and world number two Dustin Johnson recovered from his disastrous third round 75 with a 66 to claim a share of eighth place with six others players at nine under.
World number one Jason Day finished with a closing 67 in a six-way tie for 15th at eight under.
Meanwhile Olympic champion Justin Rose — who had started the day level with McIlroy on nine under — endured a miserable day at the office, plummeting down the leaderboard after an eight-over-par 79.
Rose’s round collapsed on the back nine, when two triple bogeys left him in a tie for 57th place.
McIlroy meanwhile was left hoping Monday’s win was an omen. His last victory at the Deutsche Bank in 2012 was followed by another win at the BMW Championship at Crooked Stick, Indiana — the same venue for this year’s tournament.
“It’s funny, four years on, and I win here, and going back to Indy where I have great memories from four years ago,” McIlroy said. “I just had positive vibes going in there.”

Leading scores after final round
269-Rory McIlroy (NIR) 71-67-66-65
271-Paul Casey (ENG) 66-66-66-73
272-Jimmy Walker 68-64-70-70
273-Adam Scott (AUS) 67-71-70-65
274-Patrick Reed 68-67-70-69, Fabian Gomez (ARG) 66-71-68-69, James Hahn 65-74-66-69
275-Jason Kokrak 70-68-71-66, Dustin Johnson 68-66-75-66, Billy Hurley III 67-69-69-70, David Hearn (CAN) 68-68-69-70, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 71-69-64-71, Kevin Chappell 67-64-71-73, Ryan Moore 65-70-68-72
276-Russell Knox (SCO) 73-67-69-67, Gary Woodland 69-66-74-67, Jason Day (AUS) 70-71-68-67, Hudson Swafford 69-69-70-68, Kim Si-Woo (KOR) 67-71-69-69, Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 69-7067-70.

Resurgent McIlroy eyes golf’s richest prize
Rory McIlroy’s thrilling last-day charge to win at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Sunday gives him a real shot at securing golf’s most lucrative prize before leading Europe’s Ryder Cup defence later this month.
The Ulsterman was at his vintage best to hunt down and overturn Paul Casey’s six-shot lead with an exhibition of whirlwind shots in appropriately blustery conditions. McIlroy went into the event with a new putter and a new putting coach in Phil Kenyon, the Englishman who is now involved with seven members of Europe’s Ryder Cup team.
In July, he described his putting as “pathetic” after missing the cut at the UPGA Championship at Baltusrol, but in Boston he emerged top in putting average and birdies made.
Those figures suggest the changes he made worked as McIlroy, who also tweaked his grip before Saturday’s third round, emerged with his third FedExCup playoff title and his first PGA Tour win for 16 months.
It was not just his putting that clicked, however. Several of his seven birdies came with the help of pinpoint bunker shots and the win was all the sweeter for coming on the back of a terrible start which saw him four over after the opening three holes. McIlroy’s personal triumph also represented a boost for Team Europe who need McIlroy at his fearsome best at Hazeltine between September 27 and October 2.
“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,” he said.
The win puts McIlroy back in the top three in the world rankings and savouring the next FedEx playoff event, the BMW Championship which starts on Thursday at Crooked Stick.
Since that is a course where he won in 2012, he will feel confident he can do enough to stay in the top five of the FedEx standings for the final event and in touching distance of the $10mn overall prize. That would be a tidy sum to have in his back pocket before the start of the Ryder Cup the following week.
“One of the things I would like on my golf CV is to win the FedEx Cup,” said McIlroy. “The next two tournaments are huge for me, to try and do that.”

FedEx Cup rankings
1. Patrick Reed (U.S.) 3975
2. Jason Day (Australia) 3409
3. Dustin Johnson (U.S.) 3189
4. Rory McIlroy (Britain) 3115
5. Adam Scott (Australia) 3063
The World Rankings
1. (1) Jason Day (Australia) 14.37
2. (2) Dustin Johnson (U.S.) 10.62
3. (5) Rory McIlroy (Britain) 10.43
4. (3) Jordan Spieth (U.S.) 9.99
5. (4) Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 9.15.