Rory McIlroy wins Deutsche Bank Championship

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy held on to win the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston by a single shot from Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa.

McIlroy began the final round three behind the 2010 Open Champion, but three straight birdies from the 2nd saw him climb to the top of the pile. A closing round of 67 was good enough for the World Number 1 to secure his third PGA Tour title of the season and go first in the FedEx Cup.

McIlroy's path to victory was a little less than serene. He found only one fairway over the last five holes. Then, on the 17th he made a clutch bogey putt to hold onto a one-stroke advantage.

But, on the final hole, the Northern Irishman had a putt for birdie and the guaranteed win. It stayed agonisingly on the lip and that gave Oosthuizen a chance to force a playoff. His putt narrowly missed however and the title went to McIlroy.

"I had a couple of wobbles coming in," he said. "But I did enough and I'm very excited to get the victory."

Oosthuizen who was suffering a shoulder injury, was full of compliments for the young Brit after the round.

"He's not No. 1 in the world for nothing," Oosthuizen said. "He's a great young talent, a lot of majors left for him to win. He's such a cool kid on the course. It's great playing with him. He makes tough shots look really sometimes, especially long irons." Tiger Woods produced a fine closing round of 66 to finish the week in third. It was a pleasing way to end the tournament for the former World Number 1 as he had been struggling with fourth round scoring so far this season.

There was drama further down the leaderboard as players looked to stay inside, or make it into, the top-70 on the FedEx Cup standings and move on to the BMW Championship at Crooked Stick. Charley Hoffman looked a dead cert to do that when 13-under-par through eight holes. But he collapsed, playing the next nine in eight-over-par. In the end he had to make a par at the home hole to advance.

Others sneaking in included Dicky Pride who birdied his last two holes to make it in 70th place.

Deutsche Bank Championship TPC Boston, Norton, Massachusetts Aug 31 - Sep 3, purse $8,000,000, par 71

1   Rory McIlroy (NIR)   65   65   67   67   264   $1,440,000 2   Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 66   65   63   71   265   $864,000 3   Tiger Woods (USA)   64   68   68   66   266   $544,000 T4   Dustin Johnson (USA)   67   68   65   70   270   $352,000 T4   Phil Mickelson (USA)   68   68   68   66   270   $352,000 6   Brandt Snedeker (USA) 69   70   65   67   271   $288,000 T7   Jeff Overton (USA)   64   71   69   68   272   $258,000 T7   Adam Scott (Aus)      69   69   68   66   272   $258,000 9   Bryce Molder (USA)   65   69   68   71   273   $232,000 T10   Ryan Moore (USA)   64   68   70   72   274   $208,000 T10   Kevin Stadler (USA)   68   71   69   66   274   $208,000

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage

Where next? European Tour - Richie Ramsay wins Omega European Masters