Rory McIlroy will attempt to defend FedEx title after all

Panic not. We haven’t seen the last of Rory McIlroy in 2017.

Less than a week after hinting he might shut his season down to give recover fully from a persistent rib injury, it has been revealed that the four-time major winner will attempt to defend his FedEx Cup title.

The Northern Irishman’s manager confirmed in an email to the Press Association that McIlroy will attempt to become the first player to win the PGA Tour’s lucrative play-offs series back-to-back.

A stop-start season has McIlroy currently languishing in 41st place on the FedEx Cup standings, with the first tournament of the four-event series – the Northern Trust at Glen Oaks in New York – set to get underway this week.

The top 125 players on the standings following the conclusion of this weekend’s Wyndham Championship will be eligible to compete in that first event.

The field then reduces to the top 100 for the Deutsche Bank Championship and top 70 for the BMW Championship. 

Despite his position, McIlroy could opt to sit out the first two events and still give himself a fighting chance of making the season-ending Tour Championship, which will comprise the top 30 players on the standings after the BMW.

Last night, he appeared to confirm that he will at least feature in the BMW when tweeted a link to a competition to win the chance to play alongside him in the pro-am

McIlroy won both the Deutsche Bank and Tour Championship last year as he sealed top spot on the FedEx standings and, with it, a $10m bonus.

Hideki Matsuyama currently tops the rankings, following by US PGA champion Justin Thomas, Open champion Jordan Spieth and world No.1 Dustin Johnson.