McIlroy won USD 18 million, pushing his PGA Tour earnings to over USD 26 million for the season. He closed with a 4-under 66 to overtake Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, who made only one birdie in a 73.

Scheffler was hoping to cap off the best year in golf with the FedEx Cup title. Instead, his entry in the record book was tying a PGA Tour record for losing the largest 54-hole lead. The last one to do that was Dustin Johnson in 2017 at the HSBC Champions.

Sungjae Im fell back with a double bogey on the 14th hole and still managed a 66 to tie for second with Scheffler. Scheffler and Im each won $5.75 million.

Rory McIlroy tees off on the 16th hole with Scottie Scheffler watching during the final round of the Tour Championship golf tournament at East Lake Golf Club, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022, in Atlanta. (Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

McIlroy won the FedEx Cup in 2016 in a playoff. He won the FedEx Cup again in 2019, the first year of a staggered start. But this might have been the sweetest of fall, coming off a year in which the PGA Tour has been in a nasty battle with Saudi-funded LIV Golf, which already has attracted some two dozen players and now is part of an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.

It was McIlroy who has declared fierce loyalty to the PGA Tour over the last few years when rival leagues were coming into a view. And it was McIlroy who joined Tiger Woods in leading a momentous player-only meeting last week that led to significant changes ahead for the tour.