Rory McIlroy is a self-admitted streaky player and is hard to beat when things are going well. That was the case at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday, where the Northern Irishman shot a final-round 65 to win by two strokes.
‘I’d come off the back of a rough couple of weeks, especially after missing the cut at (the PGA Championship). I felt that my game was close, but I wasn’t holing anything,’ he said.
‘Things can turn round very quickly in this game, and thankfully they did this week.’
The Monday finish, which coincides with Labor Day in the United States, led to windy conditions in the final round. McIlroy was comfortable on the gusty TPC Boston layout, where he made five birdies on the front side to turn in 31. He made a lone bogey at the 17th, but regained the shot at the 18th and walked off with a round of 65.
‘Six shots behind the lead, I didn’t know what I needed to do today,’ he said. ‘I just knew I wanted to go out and play a good round of golf and hopefully that was going to be enough.’
His 15 under par total was unsurmountable for overnight leader Paul Casey, who floundered to a 73 and sole second. Jimmy Walker, the recent PGA Championship winner, was sole third and Adam Scott sole fourth.
Louis Oosthuizen had a difficult time in the breezy conditions and shot 71 to share eighth place. His nine under par tally included a third round of 64 – promising stuff ahead of the BMW Championship.
For McIlroy it was a vindicating performance that earned him third place in the world ranking.
