2022 Tour Championship: Top 10 power rankings at East Lake

Rory McIlroy is twice a Tour Championship winner and FedEx Cup champion.

He fired 68-70-66-64 in 2016 and beat Ryan Moore and Kevin Chappell in a playoff. The win locked up the season-long title for McIlroy.

In the first year the Tour Championship implemented a staggered net leaderboard in 2019, McIlroy began the tournament five shots back. He made his way up the leaderboard with rounds of 66-67-68-66 to win by four over Xander Schauffele in the net leaderboard and by three in gross.

In total, the Northern Irishman’s made nine appearances at East Lake. He’s finished in the bottom half of the leaderboard once, and that was T-16th. McIlroy finished T-2nd in 2014 and has six top-10s.

“You’ve got to hit it in the fairway,” McIlroy was quoted by ASAP Sports in 2018. “Just the holes that I struggled on today are the holes where I missed the fairway. Put your ball in play, make life a lot easier for yourself.”

In 2021, he shot 68-66-74-67 to take 14th on both leaderboards.

This year, he’ll begin the week in T-6th and at 4-under-par.

McIlroy is seeking his third win of the season.

He prevailed at the CJ Cup last fall and this summer at the RBC Canadian Open.

It’s been a solid PGA Tour season for the 33-year-old with just two missed cuts and nine top-10s. McIlroy finished top-eight in all four majors.

He’s coming off T-8th last week at the BMW Championship. Rounds of 68-68-70-69 keep his FedEx Cup hopes alive after a missed cut in the first playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

He led the field last week in strokes gained off the tee (5.537). That’s a good sign for East Lake, where good driving is rewarded.

I don’t see McIlroy staging a comeback again like 2019, but he’ll be a factor in the season finale.