Rory McIlroy has broken yet another milestone in his career, joining a club of illustrious names to become only the fifth golfer to earn 5,000 Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points during his career.
The Northern Irishman finished one shot back from Wyndham Clark at last month's US Open, adding another 60 points to his impressive haul.
Following that, he earned another 11 points after securing a T7 finish at the Travelers Championship at the end of June.
🚨NEWSFLASHFollowing his runner up finish at the @usopengolf, @McIlroyRory has become only the 5th player to earn more than 5000 world ranking points in his career, since the inception of #OWGR!! 💪👏1. Tiger2. Phil3. Ernie4. Vijay5. RoryJuly 3, 2023
It means for the season, the former US Open Champion will have clocked up 196.16 points, despite losing 169.97, keeping his current tally at 423.89.
But while his place in the rankings will not change, with the 34-year-old staying in third place 185 points behind Scottie Scheffler and 37 points behind Jon Rahm, he'll now join Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh as one of five players to have amassed more than 5,000 ranking points in his career.
Since turning professional, the four-time Major winner has spent 122 weeks at the top of the OWGR, putting him fourth in the list of golfers who have occupied World No.1 for the longest period of time.
When asked if he had a goal in mind for being World No.1, the 33-year-old’s mischievous response was “332” adding: “I don’t know if I can, but that’s a number in my head.”
This year, while McIlroy has experienced a few ups and downs, notably missing the cut at the Masters, while also just narrowly falling short of his fifth Major at the Los Angeles Country Club.
But the FedEx Cup Champion seems to be riding a wave of form right now, having finished inside the top ten in his last five starts on the PGA Tour.
All eyes will now turn to the Open Championship later this July, with McIlroy determined to undo his Major drought and add more pressure on Rahm and Scheffler at the top of the rankings.
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"The last real two chances I've had at majors, I feel like have been pretty similar performances," he said after placing second at the US Open. "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."
"I'm getting closer," he aded. "The more I keep putting myself in these positions, sooner or later it's going to happen for me."
"I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.
"When I do finally win this next major, it's going to be really, really sweet."
Players to have amassed 5,000 Official Golf World Rankings Points
- Tiger Woods
- Phil Mickelson
- Ernie Els
- Vijay Singh
- Rory McIlroy
