Where's Rory?

One fall out from Jordan Spieth’s missing the cut at the Barclays is that Rory McIlroy has now returned to the Number One spot in the World Rankings.

McIlroy becomes the 14th player since the world ranking began in 1986 to get to No. 1 without playing that week.

Spieth was not too dismayed by his demotion, and commented: “I’ve reached that peak already. If I get the job done next week, I’ll be back in that ranking. But again, that ranking, it’s great once you reach it but it’s not something that I’m going to live or die on each week.”

So where is Rory? And why is not playing in the first of the four play offs that make up the FedEx? At the moment he’s back in ninth place on 2,602 points behind the leader, Jordan Spieth.

The reality is that Rory knows that the final event of the FedEx, The Tour Championship at East Lake, is really all that matters when it comes to collecting the $10 million prize.

This is where it gets complicated. After the BMW Championship, which will be held at Conway Farms Golf Club from September 14th – 20th – the FedEx points are reset. This is designed to bunch the field more closely, and add to the drama. So, in effect, Spieth’s 2,000-point lead on Jason Day will be wiped out. Seems like a lot of smoke and mirrors to us!

Last year Dustin Johnson made it through to the Tour Championship without playing any of the first three event play offs. So Rory is probably drawing on Dustin’s experience, and getting some rest before East Hill, where he will want to show Jordan who is who.