Rory McIlroy has recorded a final-round 66 to win the Fedex Cup at East Lake for the third time in his career.

Having narrowly missed out on winning the Open Championship at St Andrew's in July, McIlroy took his time to return to competitive action and failed to produce his best golf during the opening two Fedex Cup events.

The odds were also staked against McIlroy at the start of the Tour Championship with Scheffler getting a head-start on the leaderboard, and the American was also six shots ahead of his rival heading into Sunday's play.

However, as Scheffler could only post a 73, McIlroy produced his second best effort of the week, firing in six birdies to finish at the top of the leaderboard by one shot.

The turning point arguably came on the fifth, sixth and seventh holes, where McIlroy posted birdie on all three holes and Scheffler played that stretch in one-over par.

Scheffler and McIlroy were tied at the top with five holes remaining before McIlroy inexplicitly bogeyed the 14th hole when perfectly placed on the fairway.

Nevertheless, the Northern Irishman responded with a 31-footer on 15 to get back on level terms, before watching Scheffler drop a shot on the following hole.

After Scheffler missed from nine feet for birdie on the penultimate hole, McIlroy went into the final hole with a one-shot lead, and his job was made easier with Scheffler still not being on the green in three shots on the Par Five.

McIlroy was ultimately left with two putts from 21 feet, an opportunity which he was not about to pass up as he became the first player to win the competition for a third time.

Scheffler had to make do with a share of second place alongside Im Sung-jae, who posted a 66 of his own to go agonisingly close to landing the biggest triumph of his career.

Xander Schauffele ended the tournament in fourth position on his own, three shots adrift of McIlroy, with Max Homa and Justin Thomas sharing a spot in the top five.