Rory McIlroy earned £4,000 a SHOT in prize money this year after scooping £12.3m FedEx Cup pot… and his caddie won more than Jordan Spieth

AFTER banking £19.8million prize money this season - £4,000 a shot - Rory McIlroy believes his rivalry with Brooks Koepka can push him to again become golf’s dominant force.

McIlroy's financial rewards from 19 tournaments are staggering:

• £1.04m per event
• £275,000 per round
• £15,400 per hole
• £4,000 per shot

And assuming McIlroy pays him 10 per cent of the winnings, caddie Harry Diamond earned a sparkling £1.98m — that’s more than Jordan Spieth (£1.74m)!

Northern Ireland superstar McIlroy is now second in the world rankings behind Koepka by blowing the American away in their Tour Championship showdown.

The County down hero outscored him 66 to 72 after trailing by one shot heading into the final round.

It was the eighth time the world’s best two golfers have been paired together in the past month, and the tenth this year.

McIlroy has come out second best in only three of those duels.

And he credits Koepka with helping him raise his game to a new level, especially as he plundered the record £12.3million FedEx pot of gold on offer at East Lake.

The four-time Major champion beat Xander Schauffele by four shots, with Koepka and Justin Thomas a stroke further back.

He said: “I think going up against Brooks just gives me a little bit of an extra incentive.

“Once I saw I was in the final group with him, it just took me back to Memphis a few weeks ago and I felt like that I learned a few lessons that day.

'RIGHT SOME WRONGS'

“I wanted to right some of the wrongs I made that Sunday and it was a good opportunity to do it.

“We’ve played a lot together recently but Memphis was different because there was a World Golf Championship title on the line.

“One of the biggest things I learned from getting laced by six shots was that sometimes I try to treat Sundays the same as a Thursday or Friday — and they’re not.

“I go into them maybe a little too relaxed. Memphis was a reminder that it’s different and it’s about trying to get yourself in the right mindset.

“Brooks went out there and shot 65 and just basically dominated the tournament, dominated me.

“I realised if I want to become the dominant player in the world again, I need to be more like that.

"I guess that’s the ultimate compliment I can give Brooks, is that I wanted to be a little bit more like him. I played really well here. That final round in Memphis hurt a little bit.

“So this time I said to myself I’m going to go out there, try my hardest, and I was able to get the win.

“We had a good chat heading up the 18th. I just said to him that he’s had a great season. He’s won another Major, he’s won three times.

“And I know it’s going to sting for a bit, because he most likely will win the Player of the Year, but he didn’t win the FedExCup.

“But I just wanted to tell him he’s playing so good. He’s the No 1 player in the world.

"Brooks has turned into a heck of a player over the last couple of years and I definitely expect more Sundays like that between us in the future.”

McIlroy has at least given the PGA Tour players something to think about when they vote for their Player of the Year this week — by matching Koepka’s three wins.

But with the American winning the USPGA, finishing runner-up twice and fourth in the other Majors, he probably deserves the nod.

McIlroy was a member of the Players’ Committee who brought in the staggered shot system which saw him start two behind Koepka, and five behind Thomas, who was top of the FedEx pile heading into East Lake.

McIlroy not only wiped out that head start, he also posted the lowest 72-hole score of the week — his 13 under par total was three better than Schauffele and seven better than Koepka.

He added: “That was my goal at the start of the week, to just shoot the lowest score.

“I was playing a little tournament inside my head, I wasn’t necessarily looking at the leaderboard.

“I was just trying to look at it as if I was just playing the tournament, as if there was no staggered start.

“I think achieving that and going out in the final group and shooting 66 alongside the No 1 player in the world when he got the better of me a few weeks ago are the two things I’m proudest of.

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