Rory McIlroy wins BMW Championship

published 10 September 2012

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy secured his second consecutive FedEx Cup play-off triumph with a two-stroke victory over Englishman Lee Westwood and American Phil Mickleson at the BMW Championship.

McIlroy started the tournament as he meant to go on with an opening eight-under-par 64 at Pete Dye's Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indiana, following that with a Friday 68 and a Saturday 69 to sit one adrift of Mickelson and veteran VJ Singh with one round remaining.

An array of the world's best - including Westwood, Tiger Woods, Mickelson, Singh, Adam Scott and Dustin Johnson - were in contention on an exciting final day, but McIlroy closed them all out with a sumptuous Sunday 66.

The Ulsterman leads the FexEx Cup standings, and heads into the season finale at East Lake Golf Club knowing a victory guarantees him the trophy and a $10m bonus.

"The more you put yourself in this position, and the more you win and the more you pick up trophies, it becomes normal," said McIlroy.

"It's been great. The last four, five weeks have been incredible, some of the best golf I've ever played. I'm going to try and keep the run going for as long as possible."

Mickelson, who can deprive the 23-year-old of FedEx Cup glory with a win at the Tour Championship, said: "A lot of people stayed neutral and Rory geared ahead."

Woods added: "Rory's putting on a show out there. He's doing the things he needs to do and, as he said, he's feeling very confident about his game.

Right now he's playing really well and he's making a tonne of putts. That's a great combo."

BMW Championship Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel, Indiana Sept 6-9, purse $, par 72

1. Rory McIlroy (NIR) 65-68-69-66 - $1,440,000 T2. Lee Westwood (ENG) 68-65-68-69 - $704,000 T2. Phil Mickelson (USA) 69-67-64-70 - $704,000 T4. Tiger Woods (USA) 65-67-71-68 - $352,000 T4. Robert Garrigus (USA) 67-69-66-69 - $352,000 T6. Dustin Johnson (USA) 68-67-67-70 - $278,000 T6. Adam Scott (AUS) 68-68-66-70 - $278,000 8. Vijay Singh (FIJ) 65-66-69-73 - $248,000 9. Jim Furyk (USA) 69-70-67-68 - $232,000 T10. Ryan Moore (USA) 66-66-73-70 - $208,000 T10. Bo Van Pelt (USA) 64-69-71-71 - $208,000

Bold signified Titleist ball usage.

Nick Bonfield joined Golf Monthly in 2012 after graduating from Exeter University and earning an NCTJ-accredited journalism diploma from News Associates in Wimbledon. He is responsible for managing production of the magazine, sub-editing, writing, commissioning and coordinating all features across print and online. Most of his online work is opinion-based and typically centres around the Majors and significant events in the global golfing calendar. Nick has been an avid golf fan since the age of ten and became obsessed with the professional game after watching Mike Weir and Shaun Micheel win The Masters and PGA Championship respectively in 2003. In his time with Golf Monthly, he's interviewed the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Jose Maria Olazabal, Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and Billy Horschel and has ghost-written columns for Westwood, Wayne Riley, Matthew Southgate, Chris Wood and Eddie Pepperell. Nick is a 12-handicap golfer and his favourite courses include Old Head, Sunningdale New, Penha Longha, Valderrama and Bearwood Lakes. If you have a feature pitch for Nick, please email nick.bonfield@futurenet.com with 'Pitch' in the subject line. Nick is currently playing: Driver: TaylorMade M1 Fairway wood: TaylorMade RBZ Stage 2 Hybrid: Ping Crossover Irons (4-9): Nike Vapor Speed Wedges: Cleveland CBX Full Face, 56˚, Titleist Vokey SM4, 60˚ Putter: testing in progress! Ball: TaylorMade TP5x

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