Rory McIlroy will ascend to the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking when it gets updated next Monday, despite not playing this week.
It will also happen regardless of this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
McIlroy is currently just .2 points back of Brooks Koepka, who is not playing this week either. Nor is World No. 3 Jon Rahm, leaving the door open for McIlroy to make the move to No. 1.
McIlroy first reached No. 1 after the 2012 Honda Classic. He then floated between second and third before regaining the top spot that year. He was also No. 1 during parts of 2013 and 2014. He last held the No. 1 spot after the 2015 U.S. Open.
McIlroy finished T-5 at the Farmers Insurance Open, his only tournament appearance so far in 2020. He could have reached No. 1 with a win there.
Prior to that event, he talked about being in the top spot.
“I think it’s always cool when you attain that ranking for whether it’s the first time ever or the first time in a while. It’s a pretty cool feeling. I don’t think it irks me or gets me annoyed if I’m not holding that position. If I go about my business and I try to do the right things all the time, if I play well enough for a sustained period of time, hopefully I get there.”
It will be his 96th week at No. 1, fifth all-time behind Nick Faldo, Dustin Johnson, Greg Norman and Tiger Woods.
Koepka will hold the top spot for one more week. He’s been No. 1 since winning the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, a streak of 38 weeks. Koepka held his grip on the spot by finishing solo second at the U.S. Open and T-4 at the Open Championship. For good measure, he also won the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational last July and posted a fourth-place finish at the Tour Championship.
But in Las Vegas in October, Koepka revealed that he had a stem-cell procedure on his left knee. He then missed the cut at that week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Then in Korea, he slipped on concrete and withdrew from the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges where he was the defending champion.
More recently, he finished T-34 at the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and T-17 at the Saudi International.
McIlroy and Koepka battled for the PGA Tour Player of the Year award in 2019, with McIlroy taking home the honor.
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