Defending champion Rory chasing history at Sawgrass

RORY McILROY was still a teenager when he marked his first appearance at the Players Championship in 2009 by getting thrown out of bars along Jacksonville Beach for carrying a fake ID. This week he returns for his 11th appearance as the defending champion, in his 100th week in total as the world No 1. ‘I guess you could say that I’ve come a long way,’ said the 30-year-old, smiling. McIlroy celebrated his world-ranking milestone by taking his caddie and long-time friend Harry Diamond out for dinner. ‘I am very proud of the fact that I’ve spent nearly two years of my career as world No 1,’ he said. ‘I thought it was important that we marked it with a few drinks, because it had been four years since I’d reached the summit and Harry wasn’t around back then. ‘It was like, “This is our journey, we did it, two guys who grew up in Holywood, Northern Ireland, playing golf together”.’

Since the rankings began in 1986, only two other players have reached 100 weeks, although he’ll have to go some to catch that pair: Greg Norman with 331 weeks and Tiger Woods with — wait for it — 683. ‘Tiger’s total is just insane, completely unfathomable,’ said McIlroy. This week he can at least do something that Woods (right) never achieved, or anyone else for that matter. It’s a statistical curio that no one has successfully defended this title since it began in 1974. Indeed, no returning champion has so much as finished in the top 10 the following year since Adam Scott in 2005. Given he arrives with seven top-five finishes in a row, it would be quite a surprise if McIlroy doesn’t at least achieve that here. These are buoyant times for the PGA Tour’s signature event, the most important title in the game after the four majors. Tour commissioner Jay Monahan painted a rosy financial picture for his members. ‘I wish I could share all the exciting news with you at this point,’ he said, before offering a glimpse. Prize money for this event will rise from $15million this year to $25m in no time, and the FedEx Cup bonus pool from $70m to $100m by 2025. Paul Azinger might have raised the hackles with his dismissal of the European Tour recently, but the incredible sums for making the grade on the PGA Tour offer a far greater threat. What ambitious European wouldn’t want to leap on this gravy train?