Rory McIlroy just joined Tiger Woods in an exclusive club with career landmark

Rory McIlroy has joined Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh in amassing 5,000 career world ranking points. 

The news was confirmed by the reliable stats guru @VC606 after McIlroy's two most recent performances. 

McIlroy finished second at the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club and then hit the tally after his top-10 finish at the Travelers Championship. 

Related: Who is Rory McIlroy's wife?

The 34-year-old Northern Irishman would certainly prefer to have claimed his fifth major, but still, it's a nice club to join. 

Addressing his most recent major disappointment, McIlroy said: "The last real two chances I've had at majors, I feel like have been pretty similar performances.

"I played the way I wanted to play. There were just a couple of shots, two or three shots over the course of the round, that I'd like to have back."

McIlroy added: 

McIlroy is currently the World No. 3 behind Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm. 

Since turning professional he has spent 122 weeks at the summit of the world rankings. That's still quite a way short of Woods, who spent 683 weeks as the men's World No. 1. 

Only Greg Norman (331) and Dustin Johnson (135) have occupied the top position more than McIlroy. 

The Ulsterman will likely surpass Johnson, 39, sooner rather than later depending on whether or not LIV Golf receive OWGR accreditation at some point. 

Johnson recently suggested he had no plans to return to the PGA Tour despite the agreement that was struck with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by . (@golfmagic)

Unsurprisingly, McIlroy wants to surpass Norman's tally. When asked about his target before, he told the media it was '332', although he admitted the goal might be a tad lofty. 

Despite taking a break from the game after the third major of the year, McIlroy has been a busy man. 

He jetted into Detroit before the Rocket Mortgage Classic and attended a mammoth, eight-hour meeting with the PGA Tour's policy board to discuss the aforementioned 'framework agreement' with LIV Golf's backers. 

Not too long after that meeting did Woods break his silence over the agreement. The big cat wasn't supportive of the deal, though, as he just distanced himself from court documents that suggested PGA Tour execs planned for him to give a rousing, expletive-laden speech to his peers. 

Watched our latest YouTube video?

More news!