Rory McIlroy determined to regain world no.1 status

It's been a phenomenal year for Rory McIlroy, who was crowned the PGA Tour Player of the Year ahead of the major monster Brooks Koepka. Wins at The Players Championship, RBC Canadian Open and a four-shot victory at the Tour Championship helped McIlroy storm through the world rankings after dropping to 9th at the start of the year, but now he's got his eyes on regaining the throne.

McIlroy is currently in Shanghai for the last stop on the PGA Tour's Asian swing, the WBC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan Golf Club, where he aims to continue raking in the ranking points during his quest to reach world no.1 once again.

Koepka currently sits at the top of the rankings and McIlroy won't be able to catch him by the end of the year as the gap is too big, but McIlroy is hoping to get as close as he can to the American so he can continue his push in 2020.

“I want to get as many World Ranking points as I possibly can and try to close that gap on No. 1. So you know, pretty motivated coming into the week,” McIlroy told the media prior to the WGC-HSBC Champions.

“I feel like this year’s went very well. I played very consistently.

“I think last week in Japan was my 17th Top-10 of the year, so I’ve played consistent golf and I’ve won a few times, as well. It was great to get the win at the Tour Championship and win the FedExCup.

“I started this year maybe like 8th or 9th in the world, so to see that progress and to play so well and get myself back up to No. 2 with a chance of closing that gap, and I don’t think I’ll be able to quite close it as — get there by the end of this year.

“But if I play well the next few weeks, you know, I’ll have a great platform going into next year.”