Just a year ago, Rory McIlroy was at a low point.
The four-time major champion was left in tears at the Whistling Straits Ryder Cup after going 1-3, unable to do anything to stop Team USA’s historic 19-9 loss to the Europeans. At one point in 2021, McIlroy had not won in 18 months and was ranked 15th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
After that elusive win at the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship, McIlroy has won four more times, including the 2022 Tour Championship in August. On Sunday, he won the CJ Cup for the second consecutive season, this time at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina.
The latest victory saw McIlroy regain the world No. 1 ranking for the ninth time in his career. It is the first time he has held the top spot since July 2020 and comes 10 years after holding the position.
“This tournament was the beginning of me trying to build myself up to this point last year,” McIlroy said on Sunday. “I had a really difficult Ryder Cup. I think I was outside the top 10 in the world – not where I belong.”
A year ago, LIV Golf was just a whisper on the PGA Tour’s driving ranges and practice greens. This week, the first round of professional men’s golf’s season-long $50 million team championship begins Friday at Trump National in Doral, Miami, where he faces two-time Open champion Greg Norman.
For many years, McIlroy has been the voice and face of the PGA Tour in its battle for the world’s best players with LIV Golf. McIlroy had an answer when asked by reporters last week how long he wanted to be the world’s No. 1 player.
“332 [weeks]”I don’t know if I can, but that number is in my head,” McIlroy said.
That would be the second most in men’s golf history – more than Norman in one week, who is second only to Tiger Woods at 683.
Here’s what to watch in professional golf this week:
What’s next on the PGA Tour?
Butterfield Bermuda Championship
When: Thursday-Sunday
Where: Port Royal Golf Course, Southampton Parish, Bermuda
Defending champion: Lucas Herbert
Purse: $6.5 million
Three stories to watch:
PGA Tour Goes to Bermuda: After a star-studded field at the CJ Cup, in waterlogged Bermuda, many of the tour’s top players took the weekend off. The field includes a handful of recent PGA Tour winners such as Garrick Hough, Sims Power and Chad Ramey. Other notables in the field include European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, Denny McCarthy and DP World Tour winner Adrian Meronk playing sponsor-free. The winner still gets 500 FedEx Cup points.
Big John is back. Two-time major champion John Daly is scheduled to play in Bermuda on a sponsorship exemption. Daly, 56, has four top-25s in 18 starts at PGA Tour Champions events this season. His best finish was an eighth-place finish at the American Family Insurance Championship in June.
Start that noise, Bermuda!#butterfieldbdachamp @PGA_JohnDaly pic.twitter.com/RvQQQJoy0E
— Butterfield Bermuda Champ (@Bermuda_Champ) October 19, 2022
Daley was tied for 19th in early October by the stars Furyk and Co., less than two weeks after undergoing a plasma-enriched procedure on his left knee. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills and the St. Andrews Open. In the year It will be his first start at a regular tour event since missing the cut at the Barracuda Championship in August 2021.
Masters Invitation: The Masters is still more than five months away, but the Augusta National Golf Club Invitational will be on the line at this week’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi, Thailand. Indeed, the winner after four rounds receives exemptions for next year’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool and the British Amateur. Ratchanon “TK” Chantanawat of Thailand is the No. 12 ranked amateur in the world. In April, he beat budding PGA Tour star Tom Kim by two strokes to win the Asia Mixed Championship at 15 years, one month and six days, making him the youngest winner of a season recognized by the official World Golf Ranking. 17-year-old Wenyi Ding became the first Chinese to win a USGA title when he won the US Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes in July. Ding is ranked 15th in the world amateur rankings. Arizona State’s James Lew, from Singapore, helped the Sun Devils to a second-place finish at the NCAA Division 1 Championships. Lew was also on the winning Palmer Cup team in Switzerland. Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, won the APAAC twice in 2010 and 2011.
What’s next at LIV Golf?
LIV Golf Team Championship
When: Friday-Sunday
Where: Trumpeter National Doral Miami
Purse: 50 million dollars
Three stories to watch:
Go team! The season-ending $50 million Team Championship at Blue Monster will begin with a news conference at 8 a.m. Wednesday; The captains of the teams ranked fifth through 12th in this tournament will select their opponents for Friday’s singles and fours, which is the highest. – Ethnic groups choose first. The first through fourth seeded teams will receive a bye in the first round. Each match on Friday consists of two singles matches and one alternate-shot (foursomes) match. Matches are played until there is a winner; There will be no connection. The four teams with two points advance to Saturday’s semi-finals.
Weekend format: After Friday’s matches, the team captains are ranked first through fourth, and all four advance to select their opponents for Saturday’s semifinals. It will be the same format as Friday’s matches. The four teams with two points will advance to Sunday’s team championship, where 16 players will participate in a single shot-start stroke play. Players compete in two divisions, team captains play together, and each score counts toward the team’s total score. The team with the lowest cumulative score after 18 holes will split $16 million equally. Second place gets $10 million, and third place takes $8 million. Dustin Johnson’s 4 Aces GC is the top seed with 152 points, followed by Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers (96 points), Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs (93) and Louis Oosthuizen’s Stinger GC (72).
Trump playing in the pro-am: Just as he did at the LIV Golf Bedminster event in New Jersey in July, former US President Donald Trump is scheduled to play Thursday’s pro-am at the golf course he owns. Trump played with Brooks Koepka and Johnson in Bedminster. During that tournament, Trump was criticized by survivors and family members of the Sept. 11, 2001, LIV golf event near New York. LIV Golf is financed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
“Well, I’ve known these people in Saudi Arabia for a long time, and they’ve been my friends for a long time,” Trump told ESPN in Westminster. “They’ve invested in a lot of American companies, they own a large percentage of many, many American companies, and what they’re doing for golf is great, what they’re doing for the players is great. The paychecks are going up. To top it off, the PGA, as it’s known, was unpopular with the players for a long time. Now They have another option and no one knew there would be such a gold rush.
What happens on the LPGA Tour?
TOTO Japan Classic
When: November 3-6
Where: Seta Golf Course, Shiga, Japan
Defending Champion: Ai Suzuki (in 2019)
Purse: $2 million
Three stories to watch:
short stay The LPGA and Swinging Skirts Golf Foundation announced in August that this week’s Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA would be canceled for the third consecutive season due to travel restrictions related to Covid-19. LPGA players will have a week off before closing out their Asian swing at the TOTO Japan Classic. It will be the LPGA’s first return to Japan in three years. JLPGA star Suzuki won the 2019 Japan Classic after playing the final two rounds without a bogey. This was Suzuki’s only LPGA victory after winning 14 events on the JLPGA. The Japan Classic has been part of the JLPGA regular season in each of the past two seasons, with South Korea’s Jia Shin winning in 2020 and Japan’s Ayaka Fure in 2021.
Co extends lead: After securing her 18th career victory in her home country of South Korea at the BMW Ladies Championship on Sunday, Lydia Ko leads the CME Globe points standings with 420 points over 19-year-old Attaya Titikul. Australia’s Minjee Lee dropped by 527 points; Canadian Brock M. Henderson returns with 546 points. The season-ending CME Team Tour Championship, scheduled for November 17-20 in Naples, Florida, is just two events away. After playing in Japan, the LPGA returns to the United States for the Pelican Women’s Championship in Bellaire, Florida, Nov. 10-13. The top 60 players (and ties) in the point standings advance to the CME Team Tour Championship.
The title closes in honor of a beginner: With a sixth-place finish in the BMW Ladies Championship, Titikul is 230 points clear of South Korea’s Hye-Jin Cho for the Louise Suggs Rolex Rocky’s best points of the year. Choi finished third in her home country of South Korea, narrowing the gap and continuing the close competition with three races to go. Thitikul, from Thailand, shot a 9-under 63 in the first round of the BMW Ladies Championship and her third round of 63 or under par in LPGA events in mid-May.
In the official world golf ranking
McIlroy’s victory at Congare Golf Club saw him become the world No. 1 for the ninth time in his career. He replaced reigning Masters champion Scotty Scheffler, who moved up to No. 1 by winning the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in May and has remained there ever since. See who’s high and low in the world rankings this week:
moving up
Tommy Fleetwood
Current rank: 24
Previous rank: 31
It’s been a tough couple of years for the Englishman, but he’s made big progress with a fifth-place finish at the PGA Championship. He backed it up with fourth at the Genesis Scottish Open, the Open Championship and then the CJ Cup in South Carolina. In four starts this season, he ranks third overall (2.965).
KH Lee
Current rank: 33
Previous rank: 42
A two-time winner of AT&T’s Byron Nelson, Lee’s third-place finish in Congare moved him up nine spots in the world rankings. It is the highest level in his career.
Kurt Kitayama
Current rank: 41
Previous rank: 56
The former UNLV star is still looking for his first PGA Tour victory, but his second-place finish at the CJ Cup has earned him more than $1.1 million. Not a bad consolation prize. Last season, he was runner-up at the Mexico Open at Vidanta and the Scottish Open. He is the best world class in his career.
Patrick Reed
Current rating: 57
Previous rank: 59
Not all LIV golfers are moving down the world rankings. Reed moved up two spots this week. He’s made one start on the Asian Tour and two on the DP World Tour (tying for fifth at the BMW PGA Championship) and isn’t earning world ranking points outside of his LIV events. It was 25th in the world at the end of 2021.
Taylor Montgomery
Current rating: 70
Previous rank: 74
The PGA Tour rookie remains red-hot with his fourth straight top-15 in as many starts this season. He was tied for third at the Fortinet Championship, tied for ninth at the Sanderson Farms Championship, 15th at the Shriners Children’s Open and tied for 13th at the CJ Cup.
Moving down
Sergio Garcia
Current rank: 86
Previous Rank: 83
The Spaniard’s ranking has been high since joining LIV Golf. Once ranked No. 2 in the world, the 2017 Masters champion has not been ranked this low since July 1999 when he was ranked No. 149.
Matthew Wolf
Current rank: 136
Previous rank: 134
Wolff, another LIV golfer, is ranked 12th in the world and was 30th at the end of 2021. He has not collected OWGR points since his last PGA Tour start at the Travelers Championship.
Francesco Molinari
Current rank: 153
Previous Rank: 148
Molinari’s game slumped in the second half of 2019 after he squandered a final-round lead at the Masters, and he has struggled to maintain consistency since then. There were encouraging signs for the BMW PGA Championship’s 15th appearance at The Open and 9th. He wants nothing more than to return to the European Ryder Cup team in his native Italy.
Webb Simpson
Current rating: 99
Previous Rank: 98
In the year He was the hottest player on the planet in early 2020, winning the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the RBC Heritage. He had just one top 10 in 20 starts last season.
Zach Johnson
Current rank: 369
Previous rank: 359
The two-time major champion and United States captain dropped 10 of last year’s 23 games for the Ryder Cup in Rome.
On the record
It’s been a rough few weeks for Willie Mack III. On October 12, he won a three-way match to claim the Butterfield Bermuda APGA Championship at Port Royal Golf Course in Bermuda. On Friday, Mack earned his first Korn Ferry tour card by surviving the second stage of Q-School. Mack is scheduled to fly to Bermuda on Tuesday to begin his sixth season on the PGA Tour. After winning an APGA event there, he was given a sponsor’s exemption. Mack spoke with ESPN on Monday about his remarkable journey.
Q: What do you mean by finally getting a Korn Ferry tour card after a long time?
Answer: There were a lot of emotions, especially after talking to my father on the phone. I had my mom and stepdad, brother and sister, and girlfriend there, so it was great to have people there to help me through the week. A lot of time has passed.
Question: You mentioned your father. In high school it used to pay two credits per score to make sure you could play on the best golf team. How important were his sacrifices to the development of your career?
Answer: Later I did not know about the houses. He did some things that I didn’t even know were being done. I have to give all the credit to him. He sacrificed a lot, including his personal time, to make sure I had what it took to get to tournaments. As a child, you don’t understand what your parents do to you without you knowing until you grow up.
Q: You have given Tiger Woods a sponsorship exemption to play at the Genesis Invitational in February 2021. What does it mean to meet him?
Answer: That was a dream come true. I miss the cut, but being able to have lunch with a tiger for an hour and a half was something I will never forget. That made the miss a little better.
Q: How much did Tiger inspire you to play golf?
Answer: My father and I were flipping through the channels watching football one Sunday, and we saw a tiger and stopped to watch. Then I got hooked on golf. I found small plastic balls and hit them around the yard and living room.
Q: How important is the Advocates Pro Golf Association Tour? [which has a mission to bring greater diversity to golf by developing African-American players and other minorities] Have you found success in golf?
A: I started playing professionally when the tour started. The first year, I think there were only two events. Over the years, he’s done more events for more money, and it’s been nice to be able to play in APGA events in between the bigger events I play. The last couple of years, he’s been pretty good with prize money, so that’s definitely helped. [Advocates CEO Kenneth Bentley] He was able to help me get a sponsorship with Farmers Insurance, which definitely helped me a lot.
Q: Is it true that you slept out of your car at one point between races?
A: The year I turned professor is the last year you can go straight from Q-school to the PGA Tour. I made it to second place and missed going into the finals by 2 strokes. After that, for the next three years, I probably slept out of my car for about a year and a half. I was on the road trying to do something.
Q: At 34, do you think you’re still growing as a player?
A: Definitely. If you look at the PGA Tour, a lot of guys in their 40s are still playing well. I think golf is a sport where confidence and experience are everything. I am a better golfer than last year. I think I still have a lot in the tank.
Q: What are your future goals?
A: I definitely want to play well this week. I want to play well in the finals and start a good Korn Ferry tour. I’m playing well on the Korn Ferry Tour and hopefully next year I’ll be on the PGA Tour.
