Rory McIlroy confirms US PGA defence

• Rory McIlroy WILL be defending his US PGA Championship title
• News comes after two days of teasing fans on Instagram
• His comeback is much quicker than had been anticipated

Rory McIlroy has announced that he WILL be defending his US PGA Championship title – teeing it up less than six weeks after rupturing the anterior ligament in his left ankle.

The 26-year-old, who was forced to miss out on the defence of his Open Championship title at St Andrews last month, sustained the injury while playing football with friends on July 4, but a quite remarkable recovery has meant that the world No.1 won’t miss a second consecutive major.

Ever since McIlroy ruled himself out of playing in the Open on July 8, it looked unlikely that he would tee it up at a major championship until next year’s Masters. But over the past few days, the Northern Irishman has taken to Instagram to post images and videos of his rehabilitation offering hope to fans, before he finally confirmed his appearance at Whistling Straits today.

On Wednesday, the four-time major winner posted a video of himself exercising in the gym, tossing a medicine ball while balancing on alternate feet with the caption: ‘Working hard every day to come back stronger #dontmindthegrind’.

CONTINUES BELOW…

On Thursday morning, Rory McIlroy offered further hope by uploading pictures of the bruising around his ankle four weeks ago, finishing off by saying ‘I’ve come a long way since’, before a final Instagram post showed him driving the ball, the clearest sign yet that he was preparing a comeback.

The saga continued on Friday when McIlroy posted another picture on Instagram where, using emojis, he appeared to announce his intentions that he would be playing, and finally, later on Friday night, the US PGA ended any further speculation by confirming on Twitter that he’d be teeing off with Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson for the opening two rounds, a tweet which McIlroy subsequently retweeted.

And the pace of his comeback is all the more impressive, given that experts had said the minimum amount of time McIlroy would be out for was six weeks, with the first round of the US PGA Championship next Thursday two days before that mark.

Rory McIlroy :: How will he fare?

So, after today’s announcement, how do you think Rory McIlroy will get on at Whistling Straits? Leave your thoughts in the ‘Comments’ section below.