Rory McIlroy is no stranger to making comebacks at East Lake Golf Club.
The last time the Northern Irishman won the Tour Championship in 2022, he erased a six-shot deficit in the final round to beat Scottie Scheffler and Sungjae Im and win a historic third FedExCup.
Another epic comeback could be in progress.
McIlroy started this week with rounds of 68 and 69, which isn’t terrible on a Par 70, but that doesn’t bode well when the 30-man field consists of the hottest players on Tour this year.
The Grand Slam winner turned things around on Saturday, carding a 7-under 63 to finish the day T-7 and five shots back from leader Viktor Hovland. It was his best round of the playoffs so far.
“I still felt like I played okay the last couple days, just wasn’t getting as much out of my game as I wanted to,” McIlroy said Saturday. “I pieced it together today and ended up obviously with a better score.”
His putting was the difference.
McIlroy ranked close to last in putting through 36 holes but rebounded on Saturday. After an early bogey on the par-3 second, he birdied four of the next five, going 3 under on the first nine. Aside from a bogey on the par-3 11th, McIlroy was able to pick up five more birdies on the back nine, finishing at 7 under on the day and 10 under through 54 holes.
“I feel like I just left myself in better spots on the greens,” McIlroy said. “I gave myself easier putts – putts that didn’t break two ways.”
Five shots back seems like a lot, but McIlroy has an exact point of reference to use as inspiration heading into the final round.
2022’s comeback was also at East Lake, and it was the greatest comeback in the history of the tournament. The main difference is he won’t be in the final pairing this time around. He’ll be in the fourth-to-last group on Sunday, playing alongside Cameron Young.
Momentum seems to be swinging in McIlroy’s favor as well. He was 66th at the first playoff stop, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, and played in the final pairing at the BMW Championship last week, ultimately finishing third.
“It’s the last round of the PGA Tour season,” McIlroy said. “It will be nice to go out and give it a really good run tomorrow to finish this season.”
