Rory McIlroy’s third FedEx Cup record, a well-deserved crown, fit for the PGA Tour offline champion

When athletes retire after years of dedication to their profession, it is common to find them swapping their uniforms for suits as they seek to reshape the game that once shaped them. Some players move on to become coaches and others enter the media as analysts, but a select few move into the role of key decision makers of their league. or teams inside.

In an unprecedented year in professional golf, Rory McIlroy has taken an even more unusual path. He has become the rarest of all giants, a man as talented and influential behind the scenes as he is in front of the camera. On Sunday, perhaps the best player in the world beat the same number of people on the course at East Lake Golf Club as he left the course this year: all of them.

Overcoming the start three times to reach the FedEx Cup Playoffs finale and (at one point) Scottie Scheffler was 10 strokes short, McIlroy won the 2022 tournament championshipwon a career-record third FedEx Cup and took home the $18 million grand prize.

On Sunday, McIlroy starts six later masters champion who is trying to be the first golfer to make over $30 million in a single year on the PGA Tour (event earnings plus FedEx Cup bonuses) and also the first to win five times in a single PGA Tour season since Justin Thomas ended 2017 with his own FedEx Cup.

McIlroy’s momentum came to an immediate halt with a first hit on the first Sunday, but he continued to play for the rest of the day, playing the next 17 of the under five. At one point, in the middle of the round, he made five birdies in a nine-hole stretch – leading to a nine-way battle between Scheffler and McIlroy with $18 million on the table – but the pivotal point of the entire tournament. came at the 15th and 16th holes.

On a 220-yard par-3 15, McIlroy hit a safety iron on the left side of the green, away from the water around it. Then he buried that 31-foot birdie putt, a nod to easily the best year of his career. A hole later, after a club swing wedge, airlifted out of the fairway bunker, McIlroy hit his pitch off the club and boxed an 8-foot kick for par that made him a comeback. Be the first golfer on the dance floor before Scheffler to reach the top of the leaderboard.

For the tournament’s first 69 holes, McIlroy either slips or draws; he suddenly found himself leading in the last three games.

Scheffler hasn’t had a game we’ve watched all season, a match that could potentially make him PGA Tour Player of the Year 2022. He shot the worst round of the day with a 73.66 of McIlroy followed 63, he finished early on Sunday as Round 3 ended after being suspended for inclement weather Saturday night. He shot 67s in the first two days.

It, like most McIlroy wins, is a show. It’s not even close to his best this month.

McIlroy and Tiger Woods led a players-only meeting at the BMW Championship last week. The end result of bringing most of the top golfers in the world into the same room – and taking ownership of the future of the PGA Tour – was an announcement from commissioner Jay Monahan that the top PGA players Tour has committed to play 13 PGA. Travel events together starting in 2023.

Rory has been adamant, both publicly and privately in 2022, that LIV Golf is not good for the sport. Whatever your view of that assessment, there’s no denying that McIlroy spent time, effort, and energy supporting the PGA Tour while trying to reshape professional golf in 10, 20 or next 50 years.

“I had many things,” he said. “I guess every chance I get, I’m trying to defend what I feel is the best place to play professional golf in the world. In some ways, I could get this done today. to solve the problem that year was very, very challenging and different.”

A skeptic might say that McIlroy has a lot to gain from the thriving PGA Tour. That is absolutely right! His partnership with Woods in TMRW Sports, an organization that will host PGA Tour-related simulation competitions, is likely to make a lot of money for both of them. However, one must also admit that Tiger and Rory (especially together) don’t necessarily need the PGA Tour’s blessing to consolidate power and wealth. TMRW can go anywhere and succeed, and the duo can generally cash in on LIV Golf at around $1 billion.

When it comes to the sport, McIlroy is exactly who you want him to be and probably exactly who you envision him to be. In a word, he is a golf aficionado. He delves into Data Golf, just like you and me. He looks at the LIV Golf lawsuit for funny tidbits, just like you and me. If he’s not one of the 25 greatest golfers of all time, it’s easy to see him commenting and joking about all this, just like you and I.

There is nothing more attractive in an athlete than genuine humanity and true passion. It’s not to say “Santa Claus isn’t real” fully, but most athletes play sports because they’re good at them and overpaid to showcase that talent, not because it would stir their souls. And most certainly don’t care how what they do now affects an entire sport.

McIlroy has put the aforementioned time, effort, and energy into countless fronts. He is no commissioner of the PGA Tour, but the number of powerful people in his orbit – and the ways he can encourage them towards a common vision – is enough to convince you that he will. is a wonderful person.

This happened last week during the BMW Championship when a meeting of the Players Advisory Council (McIlroy as chairman) was followed by a players-only meeting led by McIlroy and Woods. Getting deeply involved in these off-course arenas – particularly emotionally taxing ones like the match against LIV Golf – can easily affect one’s play on the course, however, McIlroy doesn’t just do it. good of both, he’s still completely thriving. Even with his mind busy with the course during this time, McIlroy played some of the best golf games of his entire career.

Astonishing numbers.

• 16 starts on PGA Tour
• 3 wins
• Top 10
• 8 best finishes in all four majors
• Over $28 Million Earned (League Win, FedEx Cup, Comcast Business Top 10)
• 2.58 shots up since Jan 1, excluding this week (not even Scheffler better)

Rick Gehman joins Kyle Porter, Jonathan Coachman and Greg DuCharme to recount Rory McIlroy’s historic victory at the 2022 Tour Championship. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Perhaps nothing particularly surprising. McIlroy has always had an external drive, and a pro golf crisis exists, where the way the entire infrastructure is run in the air certainly qualifies as the extrinsic. Plus, golf has become a pleasure.

“Honestly, golf has been an escape for me for the past few weeks,” he said. “I got into the rope, no one could get to me, and that was my escape from what else was going on.”

What may be more surprising than McIlroy’s great golfing is that a generational genius at the game can also forge such a powerful vision while leading the game into the future with grace. looks and beliefs. McIlroy is clearly the right person to meet this moment.

“If you believe in something, I think you have to speak up, and I strongly believe in that,” McIlroy said of the future of the PGA Tour amid the looming LIV Golf scene. “I really do. I hate what it’s doing to the game of golf. I hate it. I really do. … So I feel strong. I believe what I’m saying are things. right, and I think when you believe that what you’re saying is the right thing, you’ll be happy to give it your best shot.”

Great players are not uncommon. The same can be said for leaders who are willing to put their all into something they truly believe in. Someone who can do both well, especially asynchronously, represents an unusual, perhaps even curious, scarcity.

The golf world has embraced and largely embraced the rarest characters in McIlroy. Someone who is dynamic and reliable enough to lead his colleagues as they shape the future while still playing at a level high enough for him to continue to shape the present. Someone who is just good enough for his voice to be important and powerful enough to use it. A person may not claim this battle, but his golf course may have been accidentally raised which means he is the only one who can wager.