Rory McIlroy hopes to use the next three weeks to change the course of his season and win the FedEx Cup title for the fourth time – setting a new record.

McIlroy has won twice worldwide this season, but is all too aware of having missed other opportunities, most painfully at the US Open in Pinehurst and the Olympic Games in Paris.

That leaves the 35-year-old nearly 3,500 points behind world number one Scottie Scheffler, who won six times on the PGA Tour before securing Olympic gold at Le Golf National, heading into the first playoff event – the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind.

“I certainly don’t want to sit here and belittle my achievements and what I’ve done this year, but at the same time I expect a certain standard from myself,” McIlroy said.

“I’ve won a few times. I’ve had a chance to win a few more times and never managed to do it. So I would have loved to add a few more to that win column.

“But like I said, there are still three tournaments left in this PGA Tour season. I think I actually have eight or nine tournaments left this year, but three on the PGA Tour to turn a mediocre season into a very good one.

“I think when the bulk of the season is over and you have those three weeks to rewrite the script a little bit or change the story and the meaning of the season, I think that’s a motivating factor and probably part of the reason why I’ve played well in the playoffs the last three years.”

When asked if he needed to do something differently to shake off the “almost man” reputation he had given himself after the Olympics, McIlroy replied: “I just need to finish the tournaments better.”

“There have been occasions where I’ve done it, like at Quail Hollow (at the Wells Fargo Championship). But of course also at the US Open and the Olympics.

“I feel like this year, and maybe in recent years, I’ve just found a way to hit the wrong shot at the wrong time. That might come into preparation and I’m trying to practice a little more under pressure at home.

“In golf you experience these things, you overcome these little challenges and you just have to try to find a way to get through them and that’s my challenge right now.

“It’s really good, but not good enough to take home the trophy. It’s just something I need to work on.”

In each of the last two years, Scheffler led the FedEx Cup standings before the Tour Championship, which concludes the season, but lost the two-stroke lead that this gave him on both occasions.

McIlroy overcame a six-stroke deficit in the final round at East Lake 2022, while Viktor Hovland wiped out Scheffler’s lead at the end of the first round 12 months ago.

“I’m not really thinking about putting an exclamation mark (on the season) or anything like that, but I definitely want to win the FedEx Cup,” Scheffler said.

“It’s been called the race of the entire season, but at the end of the day it really comes down to East Lake. I haven’t been at my best at East Lake the last few years.

“I’m pretty excited that they’ve changed the course a little bit. That might give me some new insights there.”

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Can Rory McIlroy flip the script? He hopes the FedEx Cup playoffs will do just that