Rory McIlroy looking after No.1

Rory McIlroy returns to the fray at the PGA Championship today, one ligament lighter than in his last competitive appearance and with a lot more to lose if Jordan Spieth continues his dominance of the 2015 majors.

Five weeks and five days after a game of football left him with a ruptured left ankle ligament and a grade two tear in another, the world No. 1 is at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin to begin the defence of the title he won in such dramatic fashion at Valhalla 12 months ago.

That he will tee off this evening (7.20pm Irish time) for the first time since the US Open seven weeks ago in the company of Spieth, the American who won that week to add to his Masters victory, and Zach Johnson, who succeeded the Irishman as Open champion, can only focus further McIlroy’s determination to reestablish himself as golf’s main man and strengthen his ranking as the best player in the world.