Rory McIlroy became the first three-time winner of the FedEx Cup after coming from six shots behind to win the Tour Championship, beating Scottie Scheffler and Im Sung-jae by one stroke at the end of a thrilling final round.
McIlroy, who also lifted the trophy in 2016 and 2019, required a spectacular collapse from world number one Scheffler to seal his victory on Sunday.
With six holes to play after the third round was halted due to lightning, Scheffler came back and birdied four, leaving Xander Schauffele in his wake as he built a six-shot buffer heading into the last trip around East Lake Golf Club.
But after rounds of 65, 66 and 66, Scheffler posted four bogeys and one birdie for a three-over 73, dropping back to 20 under. No player shot worse than 73 in the final round.
McIlroy did not reach the outright lead until Scheffler gave it to him, bogeying the 16th to leave McIlroy alone atop the leaderboard with two holes to play.
Despite a hook with his final tee shot, McIlroy kept his cool, recovering and tapping in his two-putt for the win, and he acknowledged Scheffler in his speech during the trophy presentation.
"What a day," he said. "Firstly, there's one thing I want to say – I feel like Scottie deserves at least half of this today.
"He has had an unbelievable season – I feel sort of bad that I pipped him at the post, but he's a hell of a competitor, and an even better guy, and it was an honour and a privilege to battle with him today. I'm sure we'll have many more.
"I told him today 'we're one-all in Georgia this year' – because he got the Masters, and I got this."
Finishing tied with Scheffler in second-place was Im, with his metronomic consistency leading to rounds of 67, 65, 66 and 66 for his 20 under.
Schauffele had appeared likely to race past Scheffler before the lightning struck on Saturday, and he struggled after resuming in the morning, going one-over from his last six holes of the third round before posting a 69 to finish alone in fourth place at 18 under.
Max Homa ended up sneaking into the top-five after opening the week with a 71, following it with rounds of 62, 66 and 66 to finish at 17 under, tied with Justin Thomas.
Sepp Straka and Patrick Cantlay were a further shot back, tied for seventh at 16 under, with Tony Finau (15 under) and Tom Hoge (14 under) rounding out the top-10. Finau shot Sunday's round of the day with his 64, posting seven birdies and one bogey.
Ryder Cup day two: Europe aim to build on record-equalling start
Europe captain Luke Donald insisted his side would not rest on their laurels after claiming a record-equalling five-point lead on the opening day of the 44th Ryder Cup.
After enjoying an unprecedented clean sweep of the opening session, the home side also staged three dramatic comebacks in the afternoon fourballs to ensure the United States failed to win a single match in a day for the first time.
“Unbelievable start, historic day, but we want it to be an historic week so the job is certainly not done,” Donald said.
“We will all celebrate an amazing day, but we’ll be back with the goal of trying to win tomorrow morning’s session. We’ll be getting our guys focused to be back in the saddle, so to speak.
“We’ll enjoy the last hour [of play] and the celebration, but once I’m back at the hotel we’ll have a team meeting and we’ll be back to business.”
Donald was well aware that the United States could easily have ended the day just 5-3 behind as they were ahead in three of the fourballs on the closing stretch, only for Jon Rahm to finish eagle, par, eagle and Viktor Hovland to hole from 20 feet for birdie on the 18th.
Justin Rose then also birdied the last to ensure the five-point advantage and match Europe’s lead at Oakland Hills in 2004, when US captain Hal Sutton disastrously paired Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson twice on the opening day.
Shot of the dayHis partner Nicolai Hojgaard had driven the green on the short 16th, but Rahm decided to chip in anyway for an eagle to win the hole.
Statistic of the dayTop statistician Justin Ray sums up the historic nature of day one.
Quote of the dayBrooks Koepka was not happy with Jon Rahm after the Spaniard finished eagle, par, birdie to snatch half a point.
Key tee times (all BST)0635 Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood v Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth
0650 Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg v Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka
0705 Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka v Max Homa and Brian Harman
0720 Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton v Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele
Weather forecastSaturday and Sunday will feature sunny skies with a few afternoon clouds building up over the mountains along with temperatures near 30 degrees centigrade (85F) each afternoon. No rain is expected through the period.
What could Friday’s Ryder Cup action mean for the next two days in Rome?
The United States failed to win a single match as Europe equalled the biggest day-one lead in the modern format of the Ryder Cup.
Since the Great Britain and Ireland team was expanded to Europe in 1979, a margin of 6 1/2 points to 1 1/2 had only before been achieved in 2004 – and even then, the beaten Americans managed one foursomes win.
Here, the PA news agency looks at how Friday’s success compares and what it could mean.
Friday’s resultsEurope won all four of the morning foursomes, only their fourth ever session whitewash with the others coming on Friday afternoons in 1987, 1989 and 2018.
Another win followed in the afternoon from Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick, 5&3 over Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele, with none of the five home wins reaching the 18th hole.
When the other games did get there, though, it was to Europe’s benefit – Viktor Hovland’s dead-weight birdie putt halved the top match, Jon Rahm rattled in his second eagle in three holes and Justin Rose brilliantly closed out another half.
Echoes of 2004Europe’s previous 4-0 sessions came after a 2-2 share of the Friday morning in 1987 and overturned 3-1 deficits on the other two occasions.
That 6-2 margin in 1987 was matched in 1999, Europe winning 2 1/2 points in the Friday morning foursomes and 3 1/2 in the afternoon fourballs, and by the Americans with a pair of 3-1 wins in 2021.
But the only precedent for a team scoring 6 1/2 points on day one comes from 2004, when Europe won three of the morning fourballs with an additional half-point from Paul McGinley and current captain Luke Donald.
Chris DiMarco and Jay Haas finally got the USA on the board but Europe won the remaining three foursomes on their way to an eventual 18 1/2 9 1/2 win – a European record which was matched two years later.
The USA’s 19-9 win two years ago is the only bigger margin in a Europe-United States contest though after Europe’s 6-2 opening days, they won only 15-13 in 1987 and lost the contest in 1999.
Battle of BrooklineFrom the American perspective, what is needed is a comeback to top one of the Ryder Cup’s most memorable contests – largely for unwanted reasons.
The 1999 contest in Brookline is chiefly noted for the controversy on the final day, with Justin Leonard’s long putt at the 17th sparking wild American celebrations even as Europe’s Jose Maria Olazabal still had a putt for a half to keep the match alive.
Colin Montgomerie reported that he suffered such abuse that his father left the course, Mark James alleged that a fan spat at his wife and Europe vice-captain Sam Torrance singled out Tom Lehman’s conduct as “disgusting”, with Lehman later apologising for his and his team’s behaviour.
A dramatic contest, though, deserves to be remembered for the golf that was played. Wins for Montgomerie and Paul Lawrie followed by Sergio Garcia and Jesper Parnevik gave Europe the early initiative, with Jeff Maggert and Hal Sutton pulling back a first American win and the other match on Friday morning halved.
A half for Montgomerie and Lawrie and wins for Garcia and Parnevik, Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez and then Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood made it 6-2 and each of Saturday’s sessions were shared 2-2, leaving Europe 10-6 up heading into the singles.
American players won the first seven matches to finish before Padraig Harrington and Lawrie stopped the rot. Jim Furyk beat Garcia, though, to make it 14-12 and Olazabal’s miss after the commotion at the 17th meant an eventual 14 1/2 13 1/2 home win.
Ryder Cup day one: Record-equalling start is fantastic news for Europe
Europe captain Luke Donald insisted his side would not rest on their laurels after claiming a record-equalling five-point lead on the opening day of the 44th Ryder Cup.
After enjoying an unprecedented clean sweep of the opening session, the home side also staged three dramatic comebacks in the afternoon fourballs to ensure the United States failed to win a single match in a day for the first time.
“Unbelievable start, historic day, but we want it to be an historic week so the job is certainly not done,” Donald said.
“We will all celebrate an amazing day, but we’ll be back with the goal of trying to win tomorrow morning’s session. We’ll be getting our guys focused to be back in the saddle, so to speak.
“We’ll enjoy the last hour [of play] and the celebration, but once I’m back at the hotel we’ll have a team meeting and we’ll be back to business.”
Donald was well aware that the United States could easily have ended the day just 5-3 behind as they were ahead in three of the fourballs on the closing stretch, only for Jon Rahm to finish eagle, par, eagle and Viktor Hovland to hole from 20 feet for birdie on the 18th.
Justin Rose then also birdied the last to ensure the five-point advantage and match Europe’s lead at Oakland Hills in 2004, when US captain Hal Sutton disastrously paired Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson twice on the opening day.
Shot of the dayHis partner Nicolai Hojgaard had driven the green on the short 16th, but Rahm decided to chip in anyway for an eagle to win the hole.
Statistic of the dayTop statistician Justin Ray sums up the historic nature of day one.
Quote of the dayBrooks Koepka was not happy with Jon Rahm after the Spaniard finished eagle, par, birdie to snatch half a point.
Key tee times (all BST)0635 Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood v Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth
0650 Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg v Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka
0705 Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka v Max Homa and Brian Harman
0720 Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton v Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele
Weather forecastSaturday and Sunday will feature sunny skies with a few afternoon clouds building up over the mountains along with temperatures near 30 degrees centigrade (85F) each afternoon. No rain is expected through the period.
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