ATLANTA – Rory McIlroy is seeking history at this week’s TOUR Championship as he tries to become the first three-time winner of the FedExCup. McIlroy arrived at East Lake ranked seventh in the FedExCup after wins at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT and RBC Canadian Open. He had top-10s in all four majors and finished outside the top 25 just three times in his 15 starts, a level of consistency that was reminiscent of his second FedExCup-winning season, in 2019. “I’m back to playing the golf that I’m used to playing and the golf that I know that I can play,” McIlroy said two weeks earlier at the first event of the FedExCup Playoffs, the FedEx St. Jude Championship. “This year feels very similar to the way I played in 2019. It’s a carbon copy in terms of the consistency and the numbers and the strokes gained numbers, but my finishes in the majors have been better and that’s been a real positive looking ahead into next year and the future.” McIlroy started this week six shots back of FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler, a large deficit but not an insurmountable one. McIlroy should know. He was five back to start the 2019 TOUR Championship, the first one using the Starting Strokes format. His 72-hole score of 267 was the lowest of the week by three shots and gave him a four-shot win over Xander Schauffele. The gap between McIlroy and Scheffler quickly grew Thursday, however, after McIlroy hit his opening tee shot out of bounds. He made a triple-bogey on the first hole and a bogey on the next. He didn’t make his first par until the seventh hole, sandwiching a bogey on the fourth hole between birdies on Nos. 3 and 5. Then he eagled the par-5 sixth by holing a 35-yard pitch shot from the rough. Another birdie on the eighth hole got him to even par for the day but he bogeyed No. 9 to make the turn in 1-over 36. McIlroy and Tiger Woods, who earlier this week announced a partnership to start an indoor, data-driven golf league, are the only players to win the FedExCup twice.
Click here to read the full article…
