Rory McIlroy has returned to top spot in the World Golf Rankings with a second successive victory at the CJ Cup.
Despite more near misses in the majors, McIlroy has enjoyed one of his most consistent years on tour to emerge as the nearest rival to Scottie Scheffler.
Having finished in the top four of his last four events, the Northern Irishman knew that a win in South Carolina would see him move past the 2022 Masters champion, particularly with the American spending the second half of the tournament down the leaderboard.
McIlroy has prevailed on the PGA Tour for the 23rd time in his career, but it was not before he limped over the line with bogeys on the final two holes.
The 33-year-old had given himself that cushion with three consecutive birdies between the 14th and 16th, and they were ultimately needed as he three-putted from 41 feet on the last.
A successful title defense @CJCUPSC 🏆@McIlroyRory earns his 23rd career win on TOUR. pic.twitter.com/OTsmbXMDtO
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 23, 2022
There had been a scenario where Kurt Kitayama could have at least forced a playoff, only for his 22-foot birdie attempt on the 18th to fail to trouble the hole.
Kitayama finished ahead of Lee Kyoung-hoon to claim second spot on his own, with Lee one shot ahead of Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood who shared fourth spot.
Aaron Wise was sixth by himself, with the quartet of Billy Horschel, Sam Burns, Lee Hodges and Brendon Todd all in a tie for seventh position.
The English duo of Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton shared 13th place, with Scheffler all the way down in 45th, finishing 16 shots off McIlroy.
Darren Plant
