'What a week, what a day' - Rory McIlroy claims $18m payday with FedEx Cup victory after Tour Championship win in Atlanta

Six behind Scheffler starting the week under the staggered start, the Holywood star was 10 shots behind the world number one after two holes on Thursday when he started triple-bogey, bogey.

He was facing accusations that he'd taken on too much in the PGA Tour's war with LIV Golf.

But while he was six adrift of the Masters champion after completing a weather-delayed, third-round 63 yesterday morning, he snuck into the final group where he could exert pressure on the leader at East Lake.

The Co Down man played superbly, putting brilliantly as he made up the deficit in just seven holes.

He carded a four-under 66 to Scheffler's three-over 73 — the joint worst score of the final round — to win by one from the American and Korea's Sungjae Im on 21-under par.

Before that he had to lose the lead and win it back outright for the first time with just two holes to go and finished with two pars to get the job done.

“What a week, what a day,” McIlroy said. “There’s one thing I want to say, I feel like Scottie deserves at least half of this today. He has 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 and it’s an honour and a privilege to just battle with him today and I am sure we will have many more.

"I told him we are one all in Georgia this year. He got the Masters, I got this.”

Speaking later to Sky Sports about becoming the first man to win the FedEx Cup three times, McIlroy added: “To do something no one else has ever done and to play the golf when I needed to get the job done when I had to was really satisfying.”

Showing some emotion as he recalled notching top 10s in all the majors for the first time and coming up empty-handed, he was especially emotional as he cast his mind back to The 150th Open at St Andrews, where he was pipped by Cameron Smith and finished only third.

“I’ve been knocking on the door so much this year,” he said, choking up for a moment. “St Andrews was really hard for me. It was a tough one to get over but this softens the blow a little bit.

“It doesn’t make it that much easier to get over but it’s great to end the season on a high note like this.”

The Irishman almost felt he had something to prove, adding: “The FedEx Cup is a massive tournament but the Major Championships are the pinnacle of our sport. This is close behind and I felt so close all year.

“I had a couple of wins but I was just waiting for something. Maybe this was it. I got a little lucky with Scottie not playing his best golf today and I took advantage of that with my good play.

“But I went up against the best player in the world today and took him down. That’s got to mean something."

Winner of the FedEx Cup in 2016 and 2019, McIlroy bogeyed the opening hole but Scheffler three-putted and the Holywood star birdied four of five holes from the third to find himself tied for the lead.

As Scheffler bogeyed the fourth and sixth, McIlroy rolled in 11-footers for birdies at the fifth and sixth and a 17-footer at the seventh to draw level on 20-under.

Scheffler regained the lead with birdie from four feet at the eighth, but while he fist-pumped after making a 12-foot sand save at the 12th, McIlroy made a six-footer for birdie there to draw level again.

The four-time Major winner made a mess of the 14th and fell one behind but drained a 32-footer across the green at the 221-yard 15th to draw level again, then saved par from eight feet at the 16th to go one clear of Scheffler, who made his fourth bogey of the afternoon.

Scheffler missed a nine-footer at the 17th and while he had just 244 yards to the par-five 18th, he couldn't make a birdie and ended up tied for second with Im, which meant settling for $5.75 million.

McIlroy reiterated his belief the PGA Tour is the best place to play golf on the planet but LIV Golf is set announce Chile's Joaquin Niemann as well as Open champion Smith are joining the Saudi rebel circuit today.

Smith will be the centrepiece of the big announcement in Boston as Greg Norman names the 48-man field for the fourth £20 million event in this year's series.

But the capture of Niemann, the highest-ranked under 25 player in the world, will cause most raised eyebrows in the locker room because the Chilean was part of last week's elite players meeting, fronted by Tiger Woods and McIlroy, that forced the PGA Tour to put up an extra $100m in incentives a year and overhaul its schedule to stem the player exodus.

On the PGA Tour Champions, Pádraig Harrington came up short in his bid for back-to-back wins in The Ally Challenge in Michigan.

One stroke off the pace starting the day, the Dubliner eagled the first but could only manage a two-under 70 to finish tied fourth, three shots behind playing partner Steve Stricker, who shot 67 to win by a shot from Jeff Maggert on 15-under.

Elsewhere, Olivia Mehaffey says she has no timeline for her return to the game after admitting she feels "lost" and "broken inside" following her father's death last year and is stepping away to look after her mental health.

The Banbridge talent (24) earned a conditional card at the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School last December, just two weeks after her father Philip passed away aged 59, following a two-year battle with colon cancer.

She dedicated that performance to her dad but took to Twitter on Saturday to reveal she hadn't given herself time to grieve and was taking time away from the game.

"Since the end of last year, I've been in denial and tried to brush all my feelings aside," Mehaffey wrote on Saturday after withdrawing overnight from the LET's Skafto Open in Sweden to miss her ninth cut in a row.

"I hid behind golf and didn't give myself any time to heal. I pushed everyone who wanted to talk and help away. I constantly told myself I was fine, I was coping, life was ok. Until everything caught up with me a few months ago and reality hit me.

"I've tried to put a smile on my face and hide behind the fact I can't make it through a day without crying, without feeling lost, without feeling broken inside and feeling so isolated from everyone," she wrote. "I feel I have lost myself and I can't find happiness right now.

"I'm learning that grief is a weird thing, something you don't know how you will handle and what the next day will bring. It has taken me 8 months to admit I need help to get through this, to learn how to move forward, to navigate through life without my dad here.

"Therefore, I have decided to take some time away to get the help I need and be surrounded by my family. I'm not sure when I will come back on tour, but I feel right now I need to focus on myself as a person ahead of an athlete."