Rory McIlroy: Four-time major winner to return to world number one

Rory McIlroy finished joint third in the Framers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines last month

The four-time major winner from Northern Ireland will leapfrog Koepka when the rankings are updated following this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-AM.

Koepka and world number three Jon Rahm are also missing the event and the two-year rolling format of the ranking system will see McIlroy go top.

McIlroy will be back as world number one for the first time since 2015.

The complicated nature of the ranking system will push the 30-year-old up from 0.2 points behind Keopka to three-hundredths of a point in front.

McIlroy said last month that returning to world number one would “take care of itself”.

He added: “It’s all about the process, it’s all about the game, it’s all about trying to make improvements.

“If I do that and I achieve those goals, then hopefully inevitably I get to that position. It’s a by-product of playing consistently good golf and I’ve been doing that for a while now.” – bbc.com