Deutsche Bank Championship 2012: Win Makes Rory McIlroy Favorite for FedEx Cup

Despite his inconsistency, Rory McIlroy has set himself up to win the 2012 FedEx Cup.

The 23-year-old needed a score of -20 to win the Deutsche Bank Championship over Louis Oosthuizen and Tiger Woods, but the win puts him in first place in the overall FedEx Cup standings.

He goes into the last two playoff tournaments with 4,799 points and a 1,331-point lead over Nick Watney in second place.

In his short time on tour, McIlroy has shown incredible talent.

He won the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA Championship in dominating fashion, leading by eight strokes in each event. These wins have helped him achieve the No. 1 world ranking in the sport, an amazing accomplishment for someone his age.

Unfortunately, he has also shown that he can be incredible inconsistent.

McIlroy led the 2011 Masters through three rounds but ended up shooting a fourth-round 80 to blow the lead. In 2012, the youngster missed three cuts in a four-tournament stretch, including the U.S. Open and The Players Championship.

It seems that the Northern Ireland native believes he can hit any shot, regardless of difficulty. When things are going well, every shot seems to be perfect. However, he often cannot make up for the bad stretches.

The good news is that he seems to be peaking at the right time.

The win at the Deutsche Bank Championship is the latest in a great run that has lasted over a month. A fifth-place finish at the Bridgestone Invitational set him up to win two of the next three tournaments.

In this run, McIlroy has shown the consistency that he has been missing from hole to hole.

In the last tournament, he had only 50 percent accuracy with his drives, but he was still able to get to the green in regulation 78 percent of his holes. This shows that he has improved his focus and that he can handle himself if things go poorly off the tee.

McIlroy made mistakes—he had two bogeys in each of the last three rounds—but he is growing in his ability to forget about it and move on to the next hole. His positive mentality pairs nicely with his raw talent, and there are not many golfers that can beat him.

McIlroy is not a perfect golfer by any means. However, he has shown over the past month that, when he is playing his best, there is no one better on tour. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, this might be the best he has ever played.

If he continues this level of play, the Tour Championship will be his to lose.

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