Deutsche Bank Championship: Rory McIlroy Takes Home The Win

With his victory at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Rory McIlroy is the new No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings. His move from fourth and into first place pushes Nick Watney to second.

Louis Oosthuizen could have beaten McIlroy if it weren’t for his tournament-worst round at TPC Boston on Monday. His second place finish rocketed him from No. 27 to No. 5 in the standings.

Rory McIlroy tightened his hold on the World No. 1 golfer ranking with a win in the 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship, edging out Louis Oosthuizen and Tiger Woods with a 20-under performance. The Northern Ireland golfer now enters a fourth week at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings, his fourth time holding that position.

The top five golfers in the world rankings were unchanged by the Deutsche Bank Championship: England’s Luke Donald is in second, American Tiger Woods remains in third, England’s Lee Westwood is No. 4 and American Webb Simpson rounds out the top five.

Fans will argue that Rory McIlroy won a lot more than just a trophy this weekend at the 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship. He also likely secured Player of the Year honors.

McIlroy’s victory Monday in the second round of the 2012 FedEx Cup Playoffs -- and the $1.4 million winner’s share plus 2,500 FedEx points that went along with it -- was the Northern Irish lad’s third of the year, tying him with Tiger Woods for most on tour. Prior to this week, Woods may have been the favorite to take the honor, but McIlroy now makes a strong case having also won the Honda Classic and PGA Championship this year.

Norton, Mass. -- Tiger Woods walked off the 18th green at TPC Boston with a smile on his face after making a closing birdie and finishing the Deutsche Bank Championship in third place. Perhaps it was the finishing-round 66, marking the first time since the 2009 BMW Championship that the former No. 1 had posted four scores in the 60s in a tournament.

Maybe it was knowing that he had just become the first person to earn $100 million by playing golf. Woods’s paycheck for the week came to $544,000, which topped off his career tournament paychecks at $100,350,700.

Rory McIlroy will take home $1,440,000 for winning the 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship, while Tiger Woods’s third place share of $544,000 makes him the first player in the history of the PGA Tour to reach $100 million in career winnings, according to ESPN.

Louis Oosthuizen, who finished a stroke behind McIlroy, will receive a nice consolation prize of $864,000. Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, who finished in a tie for fourth place, will each pocket $352,000.

Rory McIlroy shot 4-under on Monday at TPC Boston to finish at 20-under for the Deutsche Bank Championship, winning the tournament by one shot over Louis Oosthuizen.

Oosthuizen was in prime position to win the tournament, but shot his worst round of the event on Monday. He managed an even-par 71, finishing at 19-under for the tournament.

Rory McIlroy is 3-under through seven holes, improving his tournament total to 19-under and moving into a one shot lead over Louis Oosthuizen.

McIlroy followed a par on No. 1 with three consecutive birdies. After losing a stroke with a bogey on No. 5, he rebounded nicely with birdie on No. 6 to move to 3-under on the day. He’s taken advantage of a struggling Oosthuizen who quickly lost his three shot lead, finally surrendering the top spot on the leaderboard after a double-bogey on No. 5.

About 60 of the 80 golfers have teed off Monday at the 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship, yet the leaderboard remains largely unchanged.

Vijay Singh and Tom Gillis stand as the biggest threats for a charge up the leaderboard as each is 2-under through three holes. Singh is 5-under for the tournament, Gillis is 6-under.

Norton, Mass. -- Keegan Bradley’s bags were packed, he was ready to go after stumbling to a 2-over 73 in Saturday’s second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. Thanks to two final birdies on the eighth and ninth holes, and a couple of favorable bounces on the TBC Boston course he was about to leave in his rear-view, the hometown favorite made the cut on the number (2-over) and was back at it on Sunday morning.

“Yeah, I cleaned out my locker, had already looked at flights [back home to Florida],” Bradley said, “so I felt like as soon as it was time to go, I felt like I was lucky just to be out here.”

Norton, Mass. -- We’re betting Charl Schwartzel shares similar opinions to those Luke Donald expressed -- and later apologized for -- about the redesigned 18th hole at TPC Boston.

After a bogey on 18 on Saturday, Donald tweeted about his dislike for architect Gil Hanse’s re-imagined putting surface, noting with a virtual smirk, “Nothing quite like hitting my best shot of the day into the last and walking off with a bogie [sic], what a terribly re-designed green.” The hashtag “#sourtaste” added just a tad more texture to Donald’s critique, and then he mistakenly sent a direct message not meant for his 300,000 followers that took a pot shot directly at Hanse and for which Donald quickly made amends after deleting it.

Louis Oosthuizen will be looking to hold onto his three-stroke lead Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship begins its final round on Labor Day. Oosthuizen is beginning the day at -19 after taking the lead from Rory McIlory (-16) with Sunday’s record-setting eight-under round.

Oosthuizen and McIlroy will be the day’s final pairing, teeing off at 1:50 p.m. EST with Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington getting the party started at 7:40 a.m. EST.

Louis Oosthuizen will head into the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship with a three stroke lead over his next closest competition and six strokes clear of third place. The South African shot an 8-under 63 on Sunday to to jump into the lead at TPC Boston.

Oosthuizen was blistering hot to start on Sunday, making birdie on eight of his first 10 holes. That included a stretch from numbers four to 10 in which he made birdie on seven straight holes as he lit up the course with one of the most impressive runs on tour this year. His long bogey of the day came on number 17, but he got that shot back with a birdie on 18 to close out his round.

Louis Oosthuizen possesses a four-shot lead over Rory McIlroy through 14 holes in Round 3 of the 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship.

Oosthuizen is at 8-under for the day, tying him with American Keegan Bradley for the best score on the course on Sunday. Meanwhile, McIlroy, who was the leader heading into the day, has dropped into second place, as he is three-under through 14. Oosthuizen, who is at 19-under for the tournament, blazed through the front nine on Sunday with a performance that commentator Johnny Miller said was one of the best that he has seen.

After what the notoriously prickly and tough NBC commentator Johnny Miller called “some of the greatest golf I’ve seen,” Louis Oosthuizen has taken a commanding five-shot lead at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston. It looked like Rory McIlroy might extend his lead over the South African early on, but he missed an eagle putt on No. 2 that would have given him a three-shot lead. Oosthuizen matched McIlroy with a tap-in birdie and never looked back.

The unflappable South African has now made seven straight birdies on holes four through ten, throwing darts at the flagsticks and then draining everything on the putting surface. He’s currently at 19-under, five shots clear of McIlroy. Oosthuizen once shot 57 at his home course in South Africa but the “59 watch” is definitely in effect after an outward 29 at TPC Boston. It was the first time anyone had broken 30 at the mammoth course in suburban Boston.

Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson lead a charge of American golfers fighting for the top spot at TPC Boston. The duo currently sits in a tie for third place at 11-under. Louis Oosthuizen and Rory McIlroy are atop the leaderboard at 14-under through five holes.

After those four is a slew of eight American golfers, including Phil Mickelson, who is 3-under for the day and 9-under overall. Webb Simpson is 2-under on the back nine and 5-under through seventeen holes. Bryce Molder and Charley Hoffman are additionally 9-under and are both under par during their third round.

The final pairings are now on the course at TPC Boston and mid-point leader Rory McIlory maintains his lead, carding birdies on the first two holes. McIlroy is looking to go low again on Sunday after shooting back-to-back 65s to start his weekend in Norton. Friday was a bit of a struggle, missing nearly every fairway. Saturday was vintage Rory, but the number on the card at the end of the day was still the same.

He appears to be on his way to another round in mid-60s, moving to 14-under through the first four holes on Sunday. McIlroy had an opportunity to take a three-shot lead over playing partner Louis Oosthuizen, but an eagle putt just missed on the par-5 second hole. The 2012 PGA Championship winner hit a perfect second shot, putting it on the left side of the hole inside of eight feet. He burned the edge, banging it past on the right side but did make the come backer for birdie to move to 14-under. Oosthuizen also tapped in for birdie to try and keep pace. The South African then picked up a shot on the drivable par-4 fourth hole with another birdie. He’s one shot back.

With the field now cut in half at TPC Boston, a number of players on the FedEx Cup bubble will try to make a move on Sunday to put themselves in the contention. Keegan Bradley has already demonstrated that more low numbers are available in Norton, Mass., posting a third-round 63 and moving 51 spots up the leaderboard. The local kid went crazy with the belly putter, draining his putts to move to 6-under for the championship. No one in the morning wave has come close to matching Bradley’s 63, so the afternoon tee times will simply need to keep it in the high 60s to be set up for Monday’s finish.

Last week’s winner, Nick Watney has yet to make a bogey on Sunday and has also moved 15 spots up the leaderboard to 4-under for the week. Even with the win last week, it’s unlikely Watney will be a Ryder Cup captain’s choice, but Davis Love III has stated he wants a hot golfer, so two more low rounds should at least keep his name on the short list.

After playing the first two rounds at two over par and barely making the cut, Keegan Bradley is eight-under through 17 holes in Sunday’s third round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, moving him up 52 spots into a tie for 15th.

Much of the leaderboard has yet to tee off, but among those with early tee times, Vijay Singh is two-under to move up 15 spots, while Nick Watney, Dicky Pride and Carl Pettersson are all two-under on the day and three-under for the tournament, good for a 12-way tie for 26th.

Keegan Bradley is charging up the leaderboard early Sunday morning, posting a 5-under front nine along with a birdie on No. 10. He currently stands at -4 for the tournament.

Bradley started hot with an eagle on the par-5 second and followed with birdies on Nos. 4, 6, 9 and 10. His -6 score today puts him in a tie for 19th, moving him 48 spots up the leaderboard from this morning.

Norton, Mass. -- Tiger Woods blamed a balky putter for his inability to get much going Saturday, while his good pal Rory McIlroy rode his flat stick to the top of the star-studded leaderboard at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

“I’m happy with the way I hit it,” Woods said after posting a 3-under 68 to get to 10-under and into a tie for third for the tournament, two shots off McIlroy’s pace. “I didn’t putt very good. I didn’t really make anything. Hopefully tomorrow will be a lot better.”

Rory McIlroy looks to extend his tournament lead on Sunday in the third round of the 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston. The Irish righty holds a one-stroke lead over Louis Oosthuizen after a second-round 65 (six-under par) for a total of 12-under on the tournament.

McIlroy and Oosthuizen make up Sunday’s final pairing and will tee off at 1:45 p.m. ET. The round gets underway when Graeme McDowell and Sean O’Hair tee off at 7:25 a.m. ET.

Louis Oosthuizen made it interesting but ultimately couldn’t make up any more ground on his final five holes, leaving Rory McIlroy as the lone leader at 12-under following Round 2 of the Deutsche Bank Championship.

McIlroy seemed dialed in throughout, establishing an early lead with his strong morning round of 6-under. McIlory had an eagle on one par-five to go along with six birdies on the day, setting the pace for the rest of the field in the process.

Sitting at 12-under at the end of his day, Rory McIlroy still remains on top of the leaderboard at the Deutsche Bank Championship but Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa has been flying up the standings, shooting 6-under through his first 16 holes.

Oosthuizen has five birdies on the day but his most impressive work came just a few holes ago in which he eagled the par-four fourth. He’s currently just one off the lead at 11-under and will look to make up more ground on the eighth and ninth.

Rory McIlroy still holds a two-shot lead over the field at the Deutsche Bank as the afternoon wave of players have failed to make a move up the leaderboard. Tiger Woods is 1-under through his first 11 holes, holding steady at 8-under.

It looked like Woods might go on another crazy birdie streak like he did at the start of the front nine on Friday, but birdies at Nos. 1 and 2 were followed by a bogey at No. 3. A bogey on the par-3 11th hole brought him back down to 1-under for the day -- certainly not poor but a score he’ll be disappointed with it it holds there over the final seven holes. The course has been fairly soft again on Friday, with plenty of scores in the mid-60s as the pros take dead aim at the sticks. Woods will certainly be in contention over the weekend but he’d like to back up that amazing Friday with the putter by making a charge at McIlroy.

Rory McIlroy has taken the lead during the second round of the 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston. McIlroy backed up his first-round 65 with another 65 to move to 12-under, good enough for a two-shot lead over Ryan Moore as the afternoon wave of tee times now get out on the course. Amazingly, McIlroy’s 65 also featured back-to-back bogeys but a blistering 30 on his first nine set the pace for another low round. The Northern Irishman carded an eagle at No. 18 as he made the turn in 30.

Rory is in the middle of a two-month stretch that could become historic if he continues his streaky play. He’s already added his second major with the win at Kiawah and he’s clearly going to be around and in contention for the final grand $10 million prize at the end of the FedEx Cup. It will all wrap up at Medinah in Chicago for the Ryder Cup. August was a pretty good month for young Rory, and September is already off to a good start.