Paddy Morgan retraces the return of Rory McIlroy to world number one.

Sawgrass

Rory McIlroy was the best golfer in the game going into The Players at Sawgrass in 2020. 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 were just three majors in 2020: the PGA Championship in August, the U.S. Open in September and Masters in November.

Major results

Two of the 2020 majors were played without crowds and the Masters was played in front of a small crowd. TPC Harding Park was the venue for the 2020 PGA Championship —a venue where McIlroy won the 2015 WGC Matchplay. McIlroy finished tied 33rd at the PGA Championship and a collapse of five over in the final round at Winged Foot resulted in him finishing tied eighth at 2020 U.S. Open. McIlroy has his best major performance at the 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 Winged Foot in 2020. He missed the cut at 2021 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 ended 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 the LIV Golf series, and I think 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 after shooting a round of 66. Jon Rahm stole the show on day two 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 and down on the short par 4 15th for a 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 by one shot after a final round of 67.

McIlroy made history by equalling Tiger Woods's 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.