Rory McIlroy finished last-but-one in the first of the PGA Tour’s end-of-season play-offs on Sunday, damaging his hopes of “turning a pretty good year into a very good year”.
The World No 3 struggled in a tie for 68th in the 70-man field of the FedEx St Jude Championship with a final-round 74 leaving him on nine-over. Hideki Matsuyama won the event in Memphis, at 17-under.
Yet despite McIlroy finding himself in good company amongst the backmarkers – Jordan Spieth was alongside, with another US Ryder Cupper in Max Homa holding up the no-cut leaderboard – this was a grim week for the Northern Irishman.