Kerching! Eventually, after four play-off holes.
Rory McIlroy - displaying wizardry and bravery - punched all the right numbers on the cash register as he spectacularly won the Tour Championship in a three-way play-off with Americans Ryan Moore and Kevin Chappell to scoop a $11.5 million payday in also claiming the FedEx Cup title.
Deprived of the jackpot by Brandt Snedeker in 2012, there was karma for McIlroy as he produced a superb final round 64 for 12-under-par 268 - coming home in 30 strokes with just 12 putts - to force his way into the play-off where he produced further magical play to eventually outplay Moore on the fourth play-off hole.
That play-off started with a huge drive down the 18th, the first hole of sudden death, and then an iron approach that set up a six-footer for eagle. However, McIlroy’s eagle putt lipped out and he went into a second hole of sudden death with Moore, who manfully holed out from 12 feet for a birdie. Chappell, in trouble off the tee, only managed a bogey and bowed out. It was down to two, McIlroy and Moore.
On the second play-off hole, again the Par 5 18th, it was halved in pars and again, on the next hole, the Par 3 15th, it was halved. But McIlroy eventually got the job done with a brilliant 12-footer for birdie on the 16th - that same hole which had ignited his challenge in regulation - to claim the title.
A spectacular eagle two on the 16th in the final round of the Tour Championship galvanised McIlroy’s challenge for the FedEx Cup’s $10 million bonus jackpot and that moment of magic was sufficient to earn him a late shot at the megabucks payday as he went into a three-way play-off with Kevin Chappell and Ryan Moore.
In holding out with a wedge from 137 yards for an eagle two, McIlroy - pumped up and high-fiving his caddie JP Fitzgerald with all the gusto of old - set up a thrilling finish as he finished his PGA Tour season with a final round 64 for 12-under-par 268 at East Lake in Atlanta - that tied him with the two Americans.
The 27-year-old Northern Irishman got off to the perfect start with an opening birdie only to suffer a bogey on the Par 3 second where he found a greenside bunker. It would prove to be his only dropped shot, as he picked up birdies on the sixth, 10th and 11th and then holed out for that eagle two on the 16th.
McIlroy, the world number three and only member of Europe’s Ryder Cup team in the tournament, had a 14 footer for birdie on the 17th but, just as he had done on the 12th and 13th with similar chances, burned the hole to remain two shots behind leader Chappell at that point.
But Chappell bogeyed the 17th to open the door and McIlroy, after a wayward drive on the 18th, muscled a fairway wood out of the rough to a greenside bunker and tapped in for a birdie. Chappell failed to birdie the last, and Moore - who shot a 64 of his own - also got into the play-off.
“It was incredible. As I said at the start of the day, all I wanted to do was concentrate on winning the Tour Championship,” McIlroy said at the trophy presentation, shown on Sky Sports.
“I just needed to come out here and play a really good round of golf. I somehow was able to tie it up in regulation. I played with Ryan all day, who played phenomenally well. Big credit is due to him. He’s playing fantastic golf and has done over the past few months so he should be really proud of himself.
“I just wanted to go out here and play the way I’ve been playing. I’ve played really well this week and feel like my game’s coming together at the right time. Two wins in the last three feels pretty nice.”
