McIlroy - Six million dollar man, and counting...
Rory McIlroy has won two majors and three regular PGA Tour events in the US
Six-million dollar man Rory McIlroy hailed a watching Caroline Wozniacki as his Wonder Woman after snatching his third win of the year and his second in just three weeks.
The Holywood idol, 23, silenced the critics who claimed that Wozza had been holding him back by grinding out a one-shot win at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Irish-mad Boston to scorch to the front in the megabucks FedEx Cup race.
Just two weeks after romping to an eight-shot win and his second major at the US PGA, McIlroy earned $1.44m for his third win of the year to take his earnings this season past $6.8m.
And he reckons tennis ace Wozniacki, who also watched him win the Honda Classic in March, is definitely a lucky charm.
Rory beamed: “Every time Caroline comes to a tournament I usually win, so I have to get her out here a bit more often.
“The two PGA events Caroline has been to this year, I’ve won both of them, so I need to get her to more events
“To have someone with you that helps you completely clear your mind of what’s going on and focus on something else, it’s a nice distraction.”
McIlroy added: “She can’t make it to the BMW Championship at Crooked Stick this week so I am going to have to do that all on my own.
Rory McIlroy bites his putter in frustration after his birdie putt on the 72nd green stopped on the lip. In the end, it didn’t matter.“And she probably can’t make it to Atlanta for the Tour Championship either but I’ll try and twist her arm.”
Questions were asked about Wozniacki’s effect on McIlroy when he missed four cuts in five weeks in May and June.
At the time his pal Graeme McDowell said: “He is going through a little bit of a voyage of discovery right now - for all the right reasons.
“Let’s be honest, the boy’s in love. He’s crazy about her. It’s not a bad problem to have.”
Stung by the criticism, McIlroy kick-started his return to form when he finished fifth in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron and went on to a record-breaking US PGA win the following week.
His latest win contrasted massively with his runaway, eight-shot major victories in last year’s US Open and the recent US PGA.
Three ahead with six to play, he had to grind out pars coming in to see off overnight leader Louis Oosthuizen.
He beamed: “I’d prefer to win by eight every time but I don’t mind squeezing out a one‑shot victory every now and again”
Following his third win of the year, he looks certain now to capture the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year award.
And he reckons that this is easily his best ever year on tour having soared to world No 1 in March and then backed up his maiden major with that memorable triumph at Kiawah Island.
Louis Oosthuizen on Rory McIlroy: “He’s not world No. 1 for nothing. He’s a great young talent, a lot of majors left for him to win. He makes tough shots look really easy sometimes, especially long irons. I don’t think the back nine he hit that ball that great after what he did on the front nine, but he did what he had to do.”
Asked which season was better, 2011 or 2012, he said: “This year for sure. To get to world No 1, to back up a major winning season in 2011 with another major this year and to get three wins on the PGA Tour, I feel this year has been a big year for me.”
McIlroy now looks comfortable in his role as the world’s best player but he’s got no plans to spray any champagne until after the Ryder Cup.
After celebrating his US PGA win with a biscuit and two Diet Cokes, he said: “I’ve learned how to handle winning big events and carrying myself forward and not dwelling on what’s happened.
“There’s a time and a place to celebrate and to enjoy what you’ve done, and going into the Playoffs isn’t it.
“You have to just focus on the week ahead. I’ll get to Crooked Stick tomorrow and start to prepare for that tournament.
“This run that we’re on, we just have to keep thinking about the next week, and once Ryder Cup is over, for sure I’ll think back and I’ll celebrate and I’ll enjoy the great golf that I’ve played over the last few weeks.”
He’s still got a long way to go to match Tiger Woods, who passed the $100m in US Tour earnings on Monday night when he finished two shots behind him in solo third.
But the Ulsterman has already earned almost $12m in America and can still add another $12.88m to that total if he wins the next two events and the FedEx Cup.
He’s also on course to match Luke Donald by winning the money list on both sides of the Atlantic.
He currently leads the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and could pocket another $2.33m with victory in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Before that he has some lucrative events still to play including two exhibitions involving Tiger Woods and two multi-million dollar European Tour events in China - the BMW Shanghai Masters and the WGC-HSBC Champions.