What a difference a year makes.
Last year Rory McIlroy looked on while Justin Rose was awarded the FedEx Cup trophy.
This year, he hoisted it.
In the final round of the Tour Championship, McIlroy played much better than he has for the majority of the season and was able to hold off second-place finisher Xander Schauffele after surpassing Brooks Koepka for the win at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
In addition to walking away with the FedEx Cup trophy, his second, McIlroy, who won by four strokes over Schauffele, also earned a $15 million payday.
“I didn’t enjoy that walk last year like everyone else did,” McIlroy said after shooting a final-round 66. “I played terribly; I never took the fight to Tiger. Going up against the No. 1 player in the world [in Koepka this year], he got one over on me in Memphis, and I wanted to try to sort of get some revenge. To play like that alongside Brooks and get the win, win the FedEx Cup, yeah, it’s awesome. It’s amazing how different things can be in a year.”
One of the keys to McIlroy’s success was the Taylor Made Spider X Copper putter he put into play this year. An update to the brand’s already hugely successful Spider line, the topline of the X features a thin black line inside a thicker white line to help with alignment. “Without even making any changes mechanically,” said McIlroy, “my stroke has gotten better because I aim my putter correctly.”
It was a good ending for an up-and-down year for McIlroy, who won three events and posted a total of nine top-five finishes but has now gone five years without winning a major and didn’t really contend for any this season.
This year’s $15 million purse, an increase of 50 percent from last year, should help dull the pain of not winning a major in 2019.
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