Rory McIlroy returns to world No 1
Sawgrass
Rory McIlroy was the best golfer in the game going into 2020 The Players at Sawgrass. The tournament was forced to stop after one round due to a global covid-19 pandemic. At the time there was a lot of uproar in the world of sport as the 2020 Cheltenham horse racing festival was allowed to go ahead with full crowds in the same week as The Players. Professional golf stopped for a couple of months and returned in June at the Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
Crowds
It was great that professional golf returned in June 2020 but unfortunately without crowds. It was a weird feeling without crowds at professional golf tournaments and it was hard to get motivated for tournaments. This affected McIlroy as he was overtaken as world number one in July 2020 as Jon Rahm won The Memorial tournament. There ended up been three majors in 2020 which were PGA Championship in August, U.S. Open in September and US Masters in November.
Major results
Two of the majors in 2020 were played without crowds and the US Masters played in front of a small crowd. TPC Harding Park was the venue for 2020 PGA Championship and this was a venue were McIlroy won in the past at 2015 WGC Matchplay. McIlroy finished tied 33rd at PGA Championship and a collapse of five over in the final round at Wing Foot resulted in him finishing tied 8th at 2020 U.S. Open. McIlroy kept his best major performances in this year until 2020 US Masters as he finished in the top five on 12 under after a final round of three under.
2021
Throughout 2021 the world returned to normal as crowds returned to professional sport and golf tournaments. McIlroy admitted after the 2021 Players Championship that he went chasing extra distance due to Bryson DeChambeau’s performance at Wing Foot in 2020. He missed the cut at 2021 US Masters after shooting rounds of 76 and 74. It was time for McIlroy to go back to basics and this worked as he won the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship for the third time. His best chance of winning a major in 2021 came at the U.S. Open as he was two shots behind the leader going into the final round. McIlroy’s chances of winning the 2021 U.S. Open came to an end as he played two holes in three over and had to settle for a tied seventh position.
CJ Cup
The 2021 CJ Cup came at the right time for McIlroy. Rory McIlroy won the 2021 CJ Cup and his consistency has been remarkable over the last 12 months. He went into the 2022 CJ Cup at Congaree Golf Club, South Carolina as defending champion. McIlroy has been very vocal against LIV series and my opinion is that he has used this as a motivator on the golf course in 2022. Congaree was a good test for the players with fast fairways and undulated greens.
On the course
McIlroy got off to a great start at 2022 CJ Cup after shooting a round of 66 which included reaching the green on the short par 4 15th. Jon Rahm stole the show on day two of 2022 CJ Cup as he shot a round of 62. McIlroy was still in contention at the halfway stage after going three behind Rahm with a second round of 67. McIlroy’s highlight on day three was holing a long putt on the par 5 12th for an eagle and held a one-shot lead going into the final round. He made three birdies in the first seven holes of his final round.
Final 5 holes
He had a fantastic putt for birdie on the difficult par 3 14th which set him up nicely for victory. McIlroy got up & down on the short par 4 15th for birdie and made a great putt on the 16th for three birdies in a row. McIlroy had bogeys on the last two holes but held on to win 2022 CJ Cup by one shot shooting a final round of 67. McIlroy made history by equalling Tiger Woods record of winning his next PGA Tour tournament after winning the FedEx Cup. McIlroy became world number one again after winning this event as Scottie Scheffler did not finish in the top ten. McIlroy deserves to be world number one as he has done a lot of hard work over the last year improving his wedge game and putting. My opinion is that McIlroy is the most talented player in golf and deserves to be world number one again due to a great season.
https://www.irishgolfdesk.com/news-files/2022/10/27/rory-mcilroy-returns-to-world-number-one
