McIlroy saves best for last in Boston win

His shoulders didn’t sag.

The now two-time Deutsche Bank Championship victor put Friday’s first-round triple bogey and even-par 71 in the rear view with three subsequent rounds in the 60s (67-66-65) and a two-shot, come-from-behind victory over Paul Casey at TPC Boston.

“I am really proud of myself for battling that first day, getting some momentum on Saturday and just going with that”.

McIlroy welcomes criticism of his golf game (which has at times been off this season) from appropriate parties in the industry.

McIlroy said it was a lesson for him not to jump to conclusions about his play.

Casey could have forced a play-off had he holed from 60-feet for eagle on the last but he had no answer to McIlroy’s accuracy on the greens which followed a change in putter and coach.

McIlroy was four over through the first three holes of the championship, but he roared back into contention at the weekend before sealing victory with a six under par final round of 65.

On the flipside of McIlroy’s glee, Casey squandered a chance at his long-awaited second PGA Tour win. But he got around TPC Boston in 19-under over the final 69 holes, along the way finding a putting stroke that worked for him. It went 8 feet by and he missed the meaningless birdie putt.

Players said the winds were a big factor, and fans saw very few of the high arcing shots hit earlier this week. That’s my pet peeve, someone who says to me: ‘You’re in the gym too much’.

PGA champion Jimmy Walker closed with 70 to finish solo third at 12.

The top 70 advance to the BMW Championship, which starts Thursday at Crooked Stick in Indiana.

Since that is a course where he won in 2012, he will feel confident he can do enough to stay in the top five of the FedEx standings for the final event and in touching distance of the $10mn overall prize. He dropped from No. 58 to 65 in the standings, but can still qualify for the Tour championship with a strong finish. He earned 66 points and moved up to No. 89 in points, but did not advance to the next round.

McIlroy has moved from fifth to third, pushing Jordan Spieth from third to fourth and Henrik Stenson from fourth to fifth.

He got into his stride with a birdie at the second and picked up further shots at the fourth, seventh, eighth and ninth to reach the turn in 31.

“I came off the back of a rough couple of weeks”, he said. “I have won Race to Dubais and I have won order of merits and been a money victor on the PGA Tour but never lifted the FedEx Cup itself”, McIlroy said. “I was like here we go again”, McIlroy said. “I hope he can keep doing that his whole career”. “It’s definitely not the finished article, but it’s a big step in the right direction.” he added.