Off the Tee: 2019 PGA Tour Championship Recap

Over the course of his career, Rory McIlroy has been a bit of a mystery man.

The native of Northern Ireland has four majors and 17 PGA Tour wins to his credit over the past nine years, but there have also been times where he looked completely lost - mentally and physically - on the golf course.

None of that mattered over the weekend in Atlanta, as McIlroy started five-shots off the lead in the new revamped scoring system for the FedEx Cup Playoffs' final event, the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Course in Atlanta.

But after finishing the tournament as the only player under par all four rounds, it was McIlroy hoisting the trophy and collecting the $15 million payday that came with it.

In this edition of 'Off The Tee', Joel Harrington from 4 Deep Golf blog and I discuss whether Rory's win was a shock and we talk about some of the key moments in Atlanta, like a fortunate save from a sprinkler box that kept him out of the water on Hole 8 in the final round:

Xander Schauffele ended up second overall to Rory, four shots back, as he grabbed everyone's attention with an opening-round 64, Thursday (August 22):

The odds on favorite to win Player of the Year, Brooks Koepka was in contention after going eight-under-par through 54 holes, but a double bogey on the front nine Sunday followed up by three straight bogeys on the back nine landed him in a tie for third with Justin Thomas, five shots behind McIlroy.

Koepka's play on the greens didn't do him any favors in the final round:

As for Thomas, who began the tournament with a two-shot advantage thanks to the playoffs' modified scoring system, he failed to take advantage of his early cushion and was right around par all three days.

He did weather a big hiccup Sunday as he closed out Round 3 by taking seven on the Par 4 16th hole:

The Tour Championship was thoroughly forgettable for the former number-one player in the world, Dustin Johnson.

For the week, he carded 16 bogeys and two double bogeys to go against only ten pars in route to a tied-for-last finish:

Now that the first year of the PGA's new adjusted scoring system for the FedEx Playoffs is complete, Joel says despite being widely panned, the tweak is here to stay - for now: