RORY MCILROY is back on top of the PGA Tour. The four-time major champion fired a six-under 65 Monday to come from behind and win the Deutsche Bank Championship.

    “I found something in my putting,” said McIlroy after the win. “Obviously my putting’s been the Achilles heel of my game this year. I tweaked a tiny little tweak Saturday morning on the putting green, and I saw some putts go in and got some confidence from that. Just went with the momentum, and just really proud of myself that I was able to keep that momentum going, keep the same thoughts and not get negative if I did hit a bad putt, just really kept staying positive the whole way throughout the weekend.”

    McIlroy gained 5.3 strokes putting for the week, marking just the second time in the last two PGA Tour seasons that the Ulsterman has gained at least a stroke per round on the field on the greens.

    He now has a pair of wins on the season, and both of them were the sort that lifted weight off McIlroy’s shoulders. The first came in the Irish Open, a tournament he hosts and which benefits his foundation. He’d never won it, and the 5-wood he hit at the last to set up the winning eagle putt was a shot that meant he could finally breathe deep, with his chest out, on the Emerald Isle.

    This win is that kind of deep exhale. After he’d been passed in the last two seasons by Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson, McIlroy needed a trophy. This win gets him past Jordan Spieth in the Official World Golf Ranking.

    The top four: Day, Johnson, McIlroy, Spieth.

    “It’s definitely not the finished article, but it’s a big step in the right direction, but just excitement,” McIlroy said of his game.(SD-Agencies)