Rory McIlroy could defend his US PGA Championship title at Whistling Straits next week, just 40 days after serious injury.
The Northern Irishman, 26, has not played since rupturing the anterior ligament in his left ankle while playing football but is understood to have scheduled a practice round at the course on Saturday.
He won last year’s PGA Championship, his second PGA title in three years, and finished one shot away from a play-off the last time the PGA Championship was at Whistling Straits in 2010.
McIlroy, whose injury prevented him from defending his Open title at St Andrews, has ruled himself out of this week’s World Golf Championship in Akron. He has said that although his rehab is going well, he does not want to rush back.
‘I’m taking a long-term view of this injury, and although rehab is progressing well I want to come back to tournament play when I feel 100 per cent healthy and 100 per cent competitive.’
A practice round at undulating Whistling Straits, Wisconsin, would give McIlroy a chance to test his ankle. The injury suffered by McIlroy (below) normally takes about 12 weeks to heal completely. The first round of the PGA Championship will take place almost six weeks after he was injured. Whistling Straits officials would not comment on McIlroy’s attendance.
World No 2 Jordan Spieth got a sneak preview of the course on Monday when he played there with fellow-Americans Gary Woodland and Justin Thomas.
Spieth, who was 22 last week, won the first two majors of the year before falling one shot short of the play-off at The Open. Should he win this week’s Bridgestone Invitational, Spieth would displace McIlroy as the world No 1. – Daily Mail