**Rory McIlroy defeated Ryan Moore on the fourth hole of sudden death to win the 2016 Tour Championship. Kevin Chappell was eliminated on the first playoff hole. McIlroy also wins the 2016 FedExCup and the $10 million season-long bonus.**
Final-Round Leaderboard
*Rory McIlroy 68-70-66-64—268 (-12)
Ryan Moore 70-68-66-64—268 (-12)
Kevin Chappell 66-68-68-66—268 (-12)
Paul Casey 68-70-69-64—271 (-9)
Hideki Matsuyama 66-71-68-69—274 (-6)
Justin Thomas 68-71-69-67—275 (-5)
Dustin Johnson 66-67-69-73—275 (-5)
Adam Scott 69-71-71-65—276 (-4)
Jason Dufner 73-67-66-73—276 (-4)
*won playoff with birdie at fourth extra hole
The top-five players in the FedExCup standings entering the TOUR Championship controlled their own destiny. Here’s where they finished in the TOUR Championship and the FedExCup.
FEC Name Position FedExCup Finish
1 Dustin Johnson T6 2
2 Patrick Reed T24 3
3 Adam Scott T8 4
4 Jason Day WD 6
5 Paul Casey 4th 5
What a finish to the 4th and final round of play in the TOUR Championship. A 4-hole playoff to win it all for Rory, Dustin Johnson falls apart to lose the tournament and the FedEx Cup, Kevin Na runs the full 18 and finishes in 1hr and 59mins. and Kevin Chappell’s early-round domination just wasn’t enough to win it.
“Finishing with a 5, I’m not going to win any golf tournaments. Have to learn from it. I’ll be better next time,” Chappell said afterwards. “The two lies I drew on 17 and 18 were bad… But I got some good breaks up to that point. Play again in Malaysia and hopefully get in the mix again, and we’ll see what happens.”
Then there’s Dustin Johnson, who had been dominant all week and ended up letting the lead (and a few million dollars) slip away. He talked about that and how he became Ryan Moore’s biggest fan:
Yeah, obviously, since I had a chance — if Ryan would have beat Rory in the playoff, I would have had a chance to win the FedExCup, which obviously would have been really cool. Like I was saying, it didn’t feel right because I didn’t win the TOUR Championship. That’s why I was here to win. I knew I controlled my own destiny.
You know what, I had a great year. I’m very pleased with how I played. Obviously, we’ve got our big week next week with the Ryder Cup. So I’m looking forward to that and looking forward to getting back here next year and get it done.”
It was a great weekend for golf. The TOUR Championship couldn’t have asked for a better unscripted, dramatic finish. Rory McIlroy won the TOUR Championship as well as the FedEx Cup so as you can imagine, he was in high spirits. “It means an awful lot (to win the FedEx Cup). I’ve made it no secret that it’s one of the last things I feel like I had left on my golfing CV, and I made it a big goal of mine especially after the summer had gone, to win it. So to be here and to win the FedExCup, especially where I came in in the mid-30s somewhere, to play the way I have in the last few weeks to get it done is very special.”
Rory McIlroy’s 13 PGA TOUR titles:
2010 – Wells Fargo Championship
2011 – U.S. Open
2012 – The Honda Classic, PGA Championship, Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship
2014 – The Open Championship, World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, PGA Championship
2015 – World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play, Wells Fargo Championship
2016 – Deutsche Bank Championship, TOUR Championship
McIlroy now has four wins in FedExCup Playoffs events in his career, the most of any player in FedExCup Playoffs history.
McIlroy has now won multiple World Golf Championships events, multiple Major Championships, four Playoff events and the FedExCup in his career.
With two victories this season (Deutsche bank Championship, TOUR Championship), McIlroy is joined by Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Russell Knox as one of the six players to capture multiple victories this season.
He also became the seventh international player, and first from Northern Ireland, to win the TOUR Championship: Mike Weir (2001, Canada); Vijay Singh (2002, Fiji); Retief Goosen (2004, South Africa); Adam Scott (2006, Australia); Camilo Villegas (2008, Colombia); and Henrik Stenson (2013, Sweden). He also joins Henrik Stenson (2013, Sweden) and Vijay Singh (2008, Fiji) as the third international winner of the FedExCup.
And with a finish like this, we’re certainly looking forward to next year!
-Jon J.
Photo: Hakim Wright