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Rory McIlroy gets ‘revenge’ on Brooks Koepka, wins $15 million FedEx Cup prize

Dylan DethierBy Dylan Dethier
August 25, 2019

Rory McIlroy entered Sunday at the Tour Championship one shot off the lead of World No. 1 Brooks Koepka. He left with the win and with 15 million dollars, the largest single prize in golf history.

It was going to be tough for any tournament to match the drama of the 2018 FedEx Cup finale, which saw Tiger Woods record his first win in a half-decade playing alongside McIlroy in the final pairing. But Sunday was a strong consolation prize, with the two best players of the 2018-19 PGA Tour season doing battle in the season’s final tee time.

In the end it was McIlroy who pulled away from the field, making birdie at No. 18 to post a final-round 66 to finish at 18 under par, four shots ahead of runner-up Xander Schauffele.

“I must say, I didn’t enjoy that walk last year like everybody else did,” McIlroy said after his round, referencing the 2018 finale. “I played terribly, I got myself into the final group and never took the fight to Tiger.

“Going up against the No. 1 player in the world today — [Koepka] got one over on me in Memphis and I wanted to sort of try to get some revenge today, so to play like that alongside Brooks and get the win, win the FedEx Cup, it’s awesome. And it’s amazing how different things can be in a year.”

It wasn’t always certain to be McIlroy’s day. Brooks Koepka held a one-shot advantage through six holes but lost his tee shot left at No. 7, leading to a double bogey. Then McIlroy rolled in a birdie putt of his own for a three-shot swing, which sent him into the lead alone.

Koepka bounced back with a birdie the very next hole, while McIlroy needed a stroke of good luck just to stay out of the water. But he made a tricky up-and-down to maintain his lead.

The tournament was truly decided on the back nine when McIlroy birdied 12 and 13, while Koepka rolled off a string of bogeys at 12-13-14.

“He just played better. I mean, he played great golf today, pretty much mistake-free. He was impressive to watch,” Koepka said after the round.

Schauffele took home $5 million as the runner-up, while Koepka finished at 13 under. You can see the complete list of payouts here.