Rory McIlroy's damaged left ankle continues to be a source of speculation and 21 hours after posting video of a rehab session, the world No 1 has treated us to two pictures of his ankle, neither of which is current. A few hours later he posted a video of himself hitting a driver in what would indicate that he's ready to defend the PGA at Whistling Straits next week.

"4 and a half and 3 and a half weeks ago respectively... I've come a long way since," he tells his 647,000 Instagram followers along with two pictures juxtaposed for comparison purposes.

The first image, showing a very swollen left ankle, would have been taken within 24 hours of the injury. The second was snapped the weekend of the The Open.

How much McIlroy's ankle has improved over the past 16 days is guesswork, but judging by his video yesterday, he's in reasonable shape.

Would a week of golf in Portugal be considered enough to feel "100 percent fit and 100 percent competitive", as he targeted a month ago?

Within a a few hours he posted a video of hismself hitting a driver and looked good, commenting: "Feels good to hit the driver again! 👍💪⛳️"

If he does play, he will have gone 53 days without hitting a competitive shot since he finished tied ninth behind world No 2 Jordan Spieth in the US Open at Whistling Straits on June 21.

Eagled eyed swing gurus will have an opinion on his driver swing but he certainly didn't look to be in any pain.