By the numbers: McIlroy’s FedExCup-winning season

The most consistent season of Rory McIlroy’s career culminated with his second FedExCup. He joins Tiger Woods as the only players to twice win the PGA TOUR’s season-long prize. McIlroy had three wins in 2019 – at THE PLAYERS Championship, RBC Canadian Open and TOUR Championship – and finished in the top 10 in all but five of his 19 starts. McIlroy gained +2.55 strokes per round on the field this season, the best mark by a player this decade and best ever by a player not named Tiger Woods.

The PGA TOUR’s ShotLink team took a closer look at the numbers behind McIlroy’s incredible season. Here’s what they found:

• The TOUR Championship was the 17th win of McIlroy’s PGA TOUR career, by far the most of any player currently aged 30 or younger. McIlroy turned 30 on May 4.

Most PGA TOUR wins: Players currently 30 years old & younger

• McIlroy’s 17 wins before turning 31 are the fifth-most on TOUR since 1970. Only Tiger Woods (54 wins), Tom Watson (25), Johnny Miller (18) and Phil Mickelson (18) rank ahead of him.
• McIlroy is the first player to win THE PLAYERS and FedExCup in the same season.
• McIlroy had seven consecutive top-10 finishes from the Sentry Tournament of Champions to the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. It was the longest streak of top-10s since Luke Donald had eight in a row in 2011.
• The TOUR Championship was his fifth win in the FedExCup Playoffs, giving him the most wins in Playoffs history.

Most wins in FedExCup Playoffs history

Strokes Gained: Total

• McIlroy is the fourth player to finish a season ranked inside the top 25 in all four Strokes Gained stats (Off-the-Tee, Approach-the-Green, Around-the-Green and Putting). Strokes Gained stats have been calculated since 2004. Three of the four went on to win that season’s FedExCup.

Ranking inside Top 25 SG: Off-the-Tee, Approach-the-Green, Around-the-Green & Putting in a season since 2004

• McIlroy’s +2.551 was the fourth-best single-season Strokes Gained: Total since the Strokes Gained statistics started in 2004. The top three seasons all belonged to Woods.

Best Strokes Gained: Total Since 2004

Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee

• McIlroy led the TOUR in Driving Distance (All Drives), averaging 304.2 yards off the tee. That was 18.7 yards longer than the TOUR average (285.5 yards). McIlroy also led the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off-the-tee for the third time. Only Bubba Watson (four times) has led the TOUR in that statistic more times.
• No player hit more drives 320+ yards in the 2019 FedExCup Playoffs than McIlroy. He hit 57 drives 320+ yards, three more than the next best player (Dustin Johnson, 54). McIlroy hit 25 drives over 320 yards at the TOUR Championship.

Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green

• McIlroy ranked 12th in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green, outperforming the TOUR by +0.633 strokes per round on approach shots. McIlroy’s +0.633 Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green average marks the second-best season performance of his PGA TOUR career. He gained +1.002 strokes per round with his approach play in the 2012 season.

• McIlroy said his most important shot of the season was an approach from the right fairway bunker in the final round of the 2019 PLAYERS. He made birdie from the bunker en route to winning at TPC Sawgrass. From 177 yards, he hit his approach to 14 feet and made the putt. It was his fourth-closest approach from 170+ yards out of a fairway bunker in his career (on ShotLink courses).

For comparison, the field at THE PLAYERS had an average proximity of 37 feet, 11 inches from that bunker. Players made birdie just 14% of the time from there.

Strokes Gained: Putting

• McIlroy made a career-high 30 putts from over 20 feet this season.

Rory McIlroy: Total putts made over 20 feet

• He finished 24th in Strokes Gained: Putting (+0.425), the third consecutive season where he’s improved that metric. The 2018-19 season marked his career-best performance in Strokes Gained: Putting. He was 159th in that statistics just two seasons ago. (-0.304).
• McIlroy has made every putt from 6 feet or less five times in his career (in ShotLink-measured events). He has won three of those events, including two this season (2019 TOUR Championship, 2019 RBC Canadian Open).

Rory McIlroy: 100% putting inside 6 feet