McIlroy back, wanting to win as Cup play starts

Ten days ago, Rory McIlroy wasn’t sure if he was going to play the rest of the year.

A week off made him feel good enough that a nagging rib injury can be managed well enough for him to compete in the FedEx Cup playoffs. And with just over a month before he shuts it down for the year, McIlroy wants to do more than just play.

“I think the real thing for me was I want to win,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “I want to win at least once before the end of the year. I haven’t not won a tournament since the 2008 season, which was my real rookie season on the European Tour.”

Even in 2013, when he struggled with an equipment change, McIlroy won the Australian Open by one shot over Adam Scott and headed into the offseason feeling better about his game. He wound up winning two majors the following year.

“I’d like to have that feeling again before taking that time off at the end of this year and getting myself right for 2018,” he said.

The majors are over, though McIlroy faces a field that in some respects is tougher than the PGA Championship.

The Northern Trust, which starts Thursday at Glen Oaks on Long Island, features the top 120 players available based on their performance this season on the toughest circuit in golf. There are no aging champions, amateur qualifiers or club professionals.

There is no Masters champion, either, as Sergio Garcia again is taking off the first playoff event.

Hideki Matsuyama enters the FedEx Cup playoffs as the fifth player in the last five years to be the No. 1 seed. The points count four times as much for the next three playoff events until the reset for the Tour Championship at East Lake.

The objective is to be among the top five seeds going into the finale, where those players only have to win the Tour Championship to capture the $10 million bonus.