In a word, how does Rory McIlroy feel ahead of Tour Championship's $18m jackpot? Settled

Ready: 'I've had some of my best putting weeks of my career at this golf course on these greens with that putter,' says Rory McIlroy.

SETTLED. That’s the word Rory McIlroy uses to describe how he feels entering the final PGA Tour event of the season with golf’s biggest prize – $18 million – at stake for the winner of the Tour Championship at East Lake and the FedEx Cup.

“I would say everything's just a little more balanced and a little more calm this year,” McIlroy said Wednesday in Atlanta on the eve of the tour playoff finale.

Considering how much remains up in the air with the framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund which bankrolls LIV Golf, the world of elite professional golf hardly seems “settled.” But from McIlroy’s perspective, the emotional and professional capital that he invested in securing the PGA Tour’s future is spent and behind him.

“I think last year, I was probably energised by everything that was going on in the world of golf,” he said. “I felt like we were maybe in a bit more of a state of flux. I sat up here at this table this day last year talking about designated events and getting all the best players to play together and all that stuff.

“Maybe just not as emotionally engaged on all of this other stuff.” 

The hard work McIlroy care about – setting up a scheduling model that would keep the PGA Tour from losing the best players to LIV golf – has been done. The 2024 season will unveil a series of what it now calls “signature events” with $20 million purses and limited fields of the top players with a more synchronised cadence. He can concentrate more on playing golf and trying to add to his tally of major victories and season-long championships.

This week at East Lake, McIlroy is vying for his record fourth FedEx Cup title and could become the first player to win back-to-back PGA Tour jackpots since the season-long points race and playoff system was introduced in 2007.

“This has been a good place to me over the years,” he said of East Lake Golf club. “At the start of my career, actually, when I came in, I think I came in to the Tour Championship No. 1 twice in 2012 and 2014 and wasn't able to win. Since then I've just sort of figured out a way to play this golf course and get myself into contention. I've had a great run here over the years and obviously in a great position to try to add another FedExCup title to the mantel piece.” 

McIlroy has won twice (2019 and 2022) since the tour implemented its staggered scoring start for the leaders entering the Tour Championship. This week actually marks McIlroy’s highest starting position, as he comes in in third place at 7-under par, three behind Scottie Scheffler.

In 2019, McIlroy started in fifth at 5-under and five back of Justin Thomas and cruised to a four-shot victory and US $15M payday.

In 2022, McIlroy started tied for sixth at 4-under and six back of Scheffler. But he gave all four strokes away in the first two holes, hitting his opening tee shot out of bounds to make triple and following it with a bogey on the second to fall 10 behind before the leader ever started. But he rallied late to shoot 67 and whittled his way with a 63 on Saturday before rallying from five behind on Sunday to overtake a stumbling Scheffler and win the US $18M prize.

McIlroy won his first FedEx Cup title in 2016, winning the Tour Championship in a three-way playoff over Kevin Chappell and Ryan Moore and overtaking Dustin Johnson to win the points title and US $10M bonus.

McIlroy has also won the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai title four times (2012, 2014, 2015 and 2022).

Despite a pair of top-10 finishes in the two playoff events coming into the Tour Championship, McIlroy is making a big change this week by switching back to his old Spider putter.

“I've had some of my best putting weeks of my career at this golf course on these greens with that putter, so hopefully I can rekindle that again this week,” he said.

Despite another season with contending challenges by no major victories to show for it, McIlroy has once again honed his form for the closing stretch. After a dip in form and confidence that cost him in missed cuts at the Players and Masters in the spring, he figured things out after the PGA Championship and put himself back on track.

It was a moment on the last hole at Oak Hill in Rochester, New York that helped flip the switch for McIlroy.

“I was in the top 10, but, I mean, whether I made birdie or not on that hole it wasn't really going to make a difference,” he explained. “The pin was on left side of the green, and I just sensed myself aiming further and further right as I got over the ball. I just couldn't trust that I could hit the shot that I wanted to hit.

“When I got in after that, I was like, I need to do something here because if I can't hit a shot under basically zero pressure to a left pin how am I expected to do it when it matters. This is purely technique. I need to go and work on some stuff.” 

He did and has finished inside the top 10 in eight consecutive starts since, including his victory at the Genesis Scottish Open and runner-up in the U.S. Open.

“Just that little bit of, like, self-reflection and knowing that I needed to work on my technique a little bit so that I can trust what I'm doing a bit more. I think it always comes back to that. Like, you can make some equipment changes to try to freshen it up or try to just get a different look, but for the most part, it's the person at the end of the club swinging it that's usually the problem.” 

McIlroy has certainly “settled” into a nice rhythm.