ATLANTA (AP) — Rory McIlroy walked toward the stage in the media room at East Lake, the FedEx Cup silver and shiny on the table, when he raised his arm and declared with a smile, “Super Bowl champ!”
That was more another dig at LIV Golf than sizing up his season.
The reference was banter he had exchanged with a reporter at the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs when asked if it was the hardest trophy to win. McIlroy would know better than anyone now that he’s a three-time winner, who also twice failed to win as the No. 1 seed.
“Is the Super Bowl the hardest trophy to win in football?” he asked on Aug 10.
Few things are lost on McIlroy. The lead attorney for LIV Golf had argued in a court hearing the day before that the FedEx Cup was the “Super Bowl of golf” in his unsuccessful bid for three players from the Saudi-funded league to play the postseason.
McIlroy rarely resists trolling LIV Golf or Greg Norman.
There also was plenty of truth to his eventual answer — McIlroy is not big on “yes” or “no” — on the difficulty of winning the FedEx Cup.
“It’s a weird one,” he said, and no one would dispute that when it comes to any playoff system in golf. “You have to play consistently good golf over the course of a 30-week season and then you have to get hot at the end of it again, as well.”
And that’s what he did. He wasn’t as good as Scottie Scheffler or Cameron Smith, but he was good enough to have a chance at the end. He was a long shot at the start and going into the final round, but he played his best on Sunday — with a lot of help from Scheffler and a little from Sungjae Im — to rally from six shots down and claim the $18 million prize.
Super Bowl champ? Sure.
Before he laid his hands on the trophy, however, McIlroy was quick to point out that Scheffler was the MVP.
“Firstly, there’s only thing I want to say: I feel like Scottie deserves at least half of this today,” McIlroy said at the trophy presentation. “He had an unbelievable season. I feel sort of bad that I pipped him to the post, but he’s a hell of a competitor. He’s an even better guy.”
He ended his praise by keeping score, and that also was telling.
“I told him we’re 1-all in Georgia,” McIlroy said. “He got the Masters. I got this.”
McIlroy was runner-up to Scheffler at Augusta National, though he was never seriously in contention. And it’s foolish to even ask which one McIlroy or any player would rather have. There are the majors. And there is the FedEx Cup.
