McIlroy excited for Ryder Cup as Hovland claims $18 million FedExCup
ROCHESTER, NY - MAY 21: Viktor Hovland reads his putt on the seventh hole during the final round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on Sunday, May 21, 2023 in Rochester, New York. (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)
Rory McIlroy can't wait to get back to Europe and sharpen his game for some Ryder Cup revenge in Rome after saving the best for last in the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Despite struggling all week with back spasms, the world No. 2 took his season's earnings on the PGA Tour to $17.9 million when he closed with a five-under 65 to finish fourth behind new FedExCup champion Viktor Hovland at East Lake and bank a $4 million bonus.
"Yeah, I think we're all excited," McIlroy said of the seven-strong European contingent in Atlanta who will likely play in Rome. "There's a lot of us that were in that team at Whistling Straits, and that didn't feel very nice, didn't feel good.
"So, yeah, I'm excited to get back over to Europe. We're all making our way over to Europe a couple of weeks early. So it will be nice to all get together, get some early team dinners before the week in Rome and sort of feel like that sort of team chemistry is starting already.
"I think we're all excited. We're all, for the most part, playing really good. There's still a few weeks to go, but it's the next big thing in all of our calendars."
As Hovland (25) held off a final-round charge by Xander Schauffele and carded a seven-under 63 to the American's 62 to win by five shots on 27-under and claim the $18 million bonus, McIlroy got confirmation his niggling back injury will not be a major issue at the Horizon Irish Open next week and the Ryder Cup next month.
The Co Down man bogeyed the first but birdied the fifth, eighth, 12th, 13th and 15th to move up to fourth place.
And while he bogeyed the 16th, he birdied the last two holes to clinch his tenth top-10 in a row — a career first.
As for his back, he's hoping to be 100 pc fit at The K Club and in the BMW PGA at Wentworth before heading for Rome.
"Hung in there the first couple days when I really wasn't feeling great," he said. "Then quite a bit of improvement yesterday. Then felt I could actually tee the driver up a bit today and hit a couple of tee shots in the air.
"Felt like I could cover the ball more with my irons. So, just excited that I'm feeling better. So that's good, going into the next few weeks, and nice to sign off with a good score."
He admitted he might not have had the firepower to deny Hovland the biggest win of his career after a thrilling final-round duel.
"Whether I had a good back or not, I'm not sure if I would have been able to hang with those two boys in front," McIlroy said.
Hovland began the day with a six-shot lead, but while he birdied four of his first six holes and turned in 31, his lead was reduced to five strokes as Schauffele birdied the first, third, fourth, sixth and eighth to turn in 30.
The American then birdied the 11th and 12th to cut the gap to three and it might have been two with four to play, but the Norwegian rammed in a right-to-left-breaking 23-footer for par at the 14th to remain three clear.
Schauffele had chances to cut the gap from 15 feet at the 15th and 25 feet at the 16th, where Hovland rolled in a 10-footer to go four clear again.
Hovland extended his lead to five shots by rolling in a 12-footer at the 17th before matching Schauffele's birdie four at the last.
He's now ranked fourth in the world and will be a popular partner in team play in Rome.
"If someone came along to any of us on the team and said we're going to put you out with Viktor today, I don't think anyone would say no," McIlroy said.
"Just put it that way. Fourballs, foursomes. It's Viktor, but it's also Shay, his caddie. They're a great duo. Great to get along with.
"I really enjoyed my day with him on Sunday last week when he shot the lights out. So, yeah, the other 11 guys on the European team, I don't think would have an issue if they went out with Viktor."
The Norwegian has made huge strides around the greens this year and McIlroy is not surprised to see him flourish.
"Yeah, really hard worker," he said. "Does it his own way. I think he's found a really repeatable golf swing. He sort of aims it up the right side, brings it in over and hits that sort of flat cut down there. He's one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the world.
"I think as we all know, he's improved around the greens this year. That's been the difference from being still a top-10 player in the world to what he's done this year.
"Winning at Memorial, winning last week (in the BMW Championship in Chicago), having a chance (in the PGA Championship) at Oak Hill. So, yeah, look, hell of a player.
"He works incredibly hard. Nothing but respect for how he goes about his business. True professional. For someone still so young, he's got quite an old head on those shoulders."
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was booed by a sector of the crowd at the trophy presentation, where Hovland expressed his delight at winning the biggest title of his career.
“Just all the hard work that I've done and just the team that's helped me every single week and it's just pretty surreal to be standing here right now,” Hovland said when asked what the trophy meant to him. “You know, playing basically my best golf the last two weeks and could never happen at a better moment in front of all these people. So just want to appreciate you all for being here and being awesome. So thank you guys.”
As for his battle with Schauffle and that key par save at the 14th, where he made his longest putt of the week, he added: “The game plan before starting today it was kind of middle of greens, make a lot of pars and make Xander kind of get after it which he did early.
“So I kind of had to change my game plan a little bit. And I was very happy that I didn't make a bogey and obviously, I was staring at five on 14 there and when that putt went in, it was just huge for momentum because two shots with four holes to go is a lot different from three shots especially with 15 yet to play so that was just a big one for momentum and after that, I just really relaxed.”
