Rory McIlroy tees off on the third hole during the final round at the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif. on Sunday, June 16, 2019. (Copyright USGA/JD Cuban)

Rory McIlroy melted iceman Brooks Koepka and closed in on his world number one crown when he claimed the Tour Championship and the $15 million FedEx Cup jackpot in Atlanta.

The Holywood star went into the final round tied for second with Xander Schauffele on 14-under-par, a shot behind Koepka, after carding a 68 in his lightning-delayed third round.

Having begun the week five shots behind Justin Thomas and three behind Koepka under the new staggered system, he put in an impressive final round performance, closing with a four-under 66 to win by four shots from Schauffele (70) any by five from Koepka and Justin Thomas on 18-under par.

"It was pretty cool," said McIlroy of his triumphal march up the 18th, just 12 months after shooting 74 in the final round to finish six behind Tiger Woods.

"I didn't enjoy that walk last year. I played terribly in the final group and never took the fight to Tiger."

Tale of the tape - Rory McIlroy v Brooks Koepka 2019

If you don’t think McIlroy was bothered by his final group failures in recent years, think again. Several of those performances rankled.

“I thought about the final group with Tiger last year, the final group with Brooks in Memphis a few weeks ago, and I really wanted to go out there and play well and really take it to him, and I did that for the most part. I went out, shot 66 on a really tough golf course and got the job done.”

He wanted to make a statement against the player who has replaced him as the alpha dog in the majors over the past three years — four wins and two runner up finishes in the past 10 majors compared to zero wins and 9 top 10s over the past 19 for McIlroy — and certainly hopes he’s made a little chink in the Koepka armour.

“I just said to him, he's had a great season. He's won another major, he's won three times. And I know it's going to sting because he most likely will win the Player of the Year, but he didn't win the FedExCup. So I know it's going to sting him for a bit, but I just wanted to tell him he's playing so good. He's the No. 1 player in the world, and he's had a great season, and he said something similar to me, just happy for me.

“But yeah, it was good. Brooks is a great player. He's turned into a heck of a player over the last couple of years, and I definitely expect more Sundays like that between the both of us in the future.”

McIlroy also won the unofficial 72-hole win (without the adjusted handicaps) by three shots from Schauffele on 267 (and by 10 from Thomas) to claim the full allocation of world ranking points and move to second in the world behind Koepka.

"Going up against the number one player in the world today, he got one over on me in Memphis and I wanted to get some revenge today,” he said.

"To play like that against Brooks to win and win the FedEx Cup, it's awesome. It's amazing a how different things can be in a year."

After his third win this year and his 14th top 10 from 19 starts, he added: "I have given myself so many chances and to win three times is awesome.

|I feel like I could have won more. But to win the FedEx Cup again, to persist the whole way throughout the year and keep giving myself chances even when I was getting knocked back and not be denied, I am very proud of myself and I am going to enjoy this one tonight.”

The win took McIlroy's earnings on the PGA Tour this year to $24,285,286 — $7.78 m in regular-season money, $1.5 million for finishing second in Wyndham Rewards Top 10 and $15 million for his second FedEx Cup win in four years.

Whatever about his failures in the majors this year, McIlroy made amends for the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, where Koepka outscored him by six shots in the final round to beat him by five.

This time around it was McIlroy who produced the goods under pressure, turning for home a shot ahead of Koepka by following a birdie at the sixth with another from 23 feet at the seventh where the out-of-sorts Floridian lost a ball in the woods and ran up a double-bogey six.

McIlroy then turned the screw further with birdies from three feet and 10 feet at the 12th and 13th totally unnerving Koepka, who would miss two short putts for par.

Having raced four clear of Schauffele and five ahead of Koepka with five to play, McIlroy promptly bogeyed the 14th and 15th to see his lead halved but made a key nine footer for par at the 16th and a 16 footer for birdie at the 17th before closing with another birdie from six feet at the 18th.

The tale of the tape this year shows that McIlroy had more wins and top 10s that Koepka, beat him by almost 1.2 strokes in the strokes gained overall charts and 0.3 in the scoring averages to win the Vardon Trophy.

But Koepka won more money in the regular season and contended for all four majors, winning the PGA, finishing second in the Masters and The US Open and fourth in The Open compared to McIlroy’s T21 at Augusta, tops 10s at the PGA and the US Open and a missed cut at The Open.

Having lost the world No 1 spot to Jason Day on 20 September 2015, McIlroy is back at No 2 for the first time since June 2017 having seen Day (51 weeks), Jordan Spieth (26 weeks). Justin Thomas (4 weeks), Dustin Johnson (91 weeks), Justin Rose (13 weeks) and Koepka (24 weeks) share the No 1 spot for the past 205 weeks (3 years 11 months and 6 days).

That’s a long time looking at someone else’s name at the top of the world rankings for a player who has spent 95 weeks as world No 1 - the fourth longest total span of all time behind Tiger Woods (683 weeks), Greg Norman (331 weeks) and Nick Faldo (97 weeks) — he will have a chance to get back to No 1 over the next three months.