Tour Championship Recap: Weight off McIlroy's Shoulders

Let's put the scoring issue at the Tour Championship aside for now and talk about Rory McIlroy.

It's hard to pinpoint how best to view McIlroy's season. But we one day may look back at McIlroy's no-doubt-about-it four-shot win on Sunday at East Lake to capture the FedEx Cup as a seminal moment in his career.

For the better part of two seasons, since the 2018 Masters against Patrick Reed, McIlroy time after time had cowered in the biggest tournaments, in the most pressure-packed moments, in final groups, against the top golfers in the world.

This time, in the final pairing with the sport's current alpha-dog, Brooks Koepka, McIlroy didn't flinch – and it came just weeks after he did, yet again, in a similar situation when grouped with Koepka on Sunday at the WGC in Memphis. In that one, Koepka beat McIlroy by six strokes to win.

In Atlanta, McIlroy equaled the best round of the day, a 4-under 66, to eclipse Koepka by that same six-stroke margin. In fact, it was Xander Schauffele who finished as runner-up, while Koepka wound up in a tie for third with Justin Thomas.

All you need to know how much weight is now off McIlroy's shoulders is to read the following quote, complete with the R word.

"Going up against the No. 1 player in the world today," McIlroy told reporters at East Lake. "He got one over on me in Memphis and I wanted to sort of try to get some revenge today, so to play like that alongside Brooks and get the win, win the FedEx Cup, it's awesome."

Let's look at McIlroy's season. He won three times, and two of them were biggies, previously winning THE PLAYERS Championship and the Canadian Open. In 19 PGA Tour starts, McIlroy totaled 16 top-25s – and 14 of those were top-10s. He led the Tour in both strokes gained: off the tee and tee to green, each by a wide margin. He won the FedEx Cup for the second time, and only Tiger Woods had done that. He is back to No. 2 in the world rankings.

So using just about any metric, McIlroy's season was bonkers-great. About the only metric under which it doesn't look so great is: again, no majors. For the fifth straight year, McIlroy could not add to his total of four. For that reason, Koepka – who also had three wins, one of which was a major, along with two runners-up and a tie for fourth in the other three majors, plus that WGC victory – is the likely and deserving Player of the Year.

On one level, as great as McIlroy's season was, something was missing. But that's viewed through the prism of real golf. In fantasy golf, where winning and many high finishes are desired even if they don't come in majors, McIlroy had a season for the ages. His backers have to be very pleased.

We now shall see whether McIlroy has put those Sunday fades behind him for good. We may not get a true answer for at least eight months, at Augusta.

McIlroy's win had to be viewed as a win-win for the PGA Tour and FedEx, because he had the best 72-hole score even putting aside the five strokes he was granted at the start. Without the boost, McIlroy finished at 13-under to Schauffele's 10-under (while Koepka was in fourth at 6-under). We weren't in favor of the staggered start, though a lot of people were, and they were quick to note that McIlroy would've won anyway. Of course, you can't look at it like that, as it's impossible to think things would've played out the same way. Who knows if the guys given the most shots played differently because they had them? Did those far back play more aggressively? 

"It was really weird and hard teeing off on Thursday ahead of everybody," said Thomas, who began the tournament in the lead at 10-under. "I don't know how everybody else feels, but I had a pretty hard time playing the normal way that I play. It's hard to just imagine everybody starts at zero when you don't. So that was tough."

(We're guessing it was just a smidge harder for the guys starting 10 shots behind Thomas.)

No matter your thoughts on the scoring system, enough went right, and nothing really went wrong, so there's no reason it won't be back next season and beyond. They may make some tweaks, but the general premise is in place for a new Tour Championship.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Let's look back not only at the Tour Championship but at the 2018-19 seasons of some of the top players.

Brooks Koepka
While Sunday's result may prove to be a turning point for McIlroy, it's not the end of the world for Koepka. He had an off-day. Simple as that. He's still clearly the best in the world – he leads McIlroy by more than three full points in the rankings even after McIlroy's great year. While a season with a win, two runners-up and a tie for fourth in majors doesn't come around all the time, there's no reason to think Koepka can't win another major next year and continue as No. 1.

Dustin Johnson
Johnson is now third in the world and amid his worst slump in years. He just finished dead last in the 30-man field at East Lake and does not have so much as a top-15 since the PGA in May. You wonder how much Koepka's ascension has weighed on him. Johnson did win the WGC-Mexico, but this was his first season since 2015 with fewer than three wins. For what it's worth, he's now 35.

Xander Schauffele
Schauffele arrived in perhaps the first slump of his pro career after the kerfuffle over his nonconforming driver discovered at Royal Portrush. But he showed once again how often he shows up in the biggest tournaments. He was runner-up along with Koepka at the Masters, he was tied for third at the U.S. Open. He even won the WGC-HSBC back in the fall. Schauffele is ranked ninth in the world, and it seems that will go higher next season, along with perhaps a first major championship.

Justin Thomas
Thomas salvaged what had been a lost season by winning the BMW last week. That seems harsh to say of someone who had 14 top-25s, seven of which doubled as top-10s, but that's the standard for a top-five golfer and a former No. 1. Thomas did have a wrist injury, but that is clearly healed. It doesn't seem that he can challenge Koepka or McIlroy for No. 1, but there's no reason he can't stay inside the top-5.

Justin Rose
Rose will be 40 next season. He's still No. 4 in the world, he won at Torrey Pines, he had seven top-10s. His season was definitely front-loaded and he had that disastrous trunk-slam at the Masters. Rose should be able to continue to perform at a high level but maybe not quite as high, and the odds are that he will start to trickle further down the rankings next season.

Francesco Molinari
Molinari was not playing well at the start of the season. Then he won at Bay Hill and led much of the way at the Masters. He was never the same after shockingly finding Rae's Creek that Sunday. Molinari has played only eight times since Augusta but he does not have a top-10 in that stretch. He's now 11th in the OWGR, and it's fair to think that, like Rose, he too will continue to trickle down.

Paul Casey
What might have been. Casey skipped the first playoff event, yet he wound up fifth in the FedEx Cup standings. Pretty darn good. He had the third-best 72-hole score at East Lake, 7-under. You wonder where he could've have finished had he not taken that week off. Still, it was a great year for the 42-year-old – he had five worldwide podium finishes, including a win for the second straight season at the Valspar.

Tiger Woods
Woods' season was never the same after winning the Masters, that much is obvious. As we wrote last week, we saw enough from him at the BMW to believe he can come back next season and contend for titles, even the Masters.

Phil Mickelson
Looking back, Mickelson's win at Pebble Beach was quite the aberration. That was back in February, and he had only one top-25 the rest of the season – a tie for 18th at the Masters. Mickelson really started to look his age as the season wore on – he'll be 50 at next year's U.S. Open – and has fallen to No. 38 in the world. We keep seeing evidence on social media that Mickelson is in great shape for his age, even for a golfer much younger, but there was some real slippage in his game.

Jordan Spieth
Ah, we've come to the guy who may be the big wild card next season. Of course, Spieth was the big wild card last season, too. Not only is he winless since the 2017 Open Championship, he just missed the Tour Championship for the second straight year. Imagine typing that sentence two years ago, or even one. Spieth had only four top-10s all season; he had only five last season. It's a minor miracle he's been able to keep his world ranking as high as it is (33rd), but some well-placed high finishes in majors have done the trick. Spieth's game is still an absolute disaster everywhere but on the green. There's no guarantee he will be Jordan Spieth again.

Viktor Hovland
On one hand, Hovland lost a 54-hole lead on Sunday at the Boise Open in the Korn Ferry playoffs. But he did tie for second, securing his PGA Tour card for next season. He's up to 112th in the world and is just about to turn 22. Will he be the new Jordan Spieth? The PGA Tour is looking for one.