After a thrilling week at Vidanta Vallarta in Mexico, the PGA Tour will now be gracing the greens at Palm Beach for the newly titled Cognizant Classic. Jake Knapp, fresh off his Mexico win, will be there, alongside many big names. However, one name stands out: Rory McIlroy. For the first time in six years, he will be competing at the event (previously known as the Honda Classic).

The Irishman has also been deemed a potential winner for this week’s event at the PGA National, seeing as it is his home ground. Although from Ireland, McIlroy has been living in South Florida with his wife and daughter in recent years, and now a victory is perhaps in order. However, as per recent reports, even if he does manage that, his ultimate win and the World No. 1 title will elude him, all thanks to his competitor and friend, Scottie Scheffler!

Rory McIlroy will have to wait a little longer to get back on top

Since February 2023, McIlroy has sat on either the second or third rank of the Official World Golf Ranking. Since then, the 24-time PGA Tour winner has tried it all to take back his No. 1 spot; however, it’s been far from easy. Scottie Scheffler has stood in his way, keeping the spot with consistent top performances!

And now that he’s not playing this week, one would think that the Irishman finally has a chance. But he doesn’t! Unfortunately, as per Nosferatu’s recent X post, even if Rors wins the Cognizant Classic, he won’t overtake Scheffler.

He will, however, be able to lessen the gap to the extent that at the Arnold Palmer Invitational next week, where both will be playing, as long as he finishes a few spots ahead of the American star, McIlroy may claim back his throne.

The reason McIlroy won’t be able to overtake Scheffler this week, of course, boils down to his inconsistency. His last few starts on the PGA Tour have not been great. At the season opener on the Tour in Pebble Beach, McIlroy finished T66, and at the recent Genesis Invitational, too, he only managed a T24 finish. Notably, the one-time major winner tied for 6th and 10th at the same events, respectively.

These placements have caused a big gap of points between the two golfers. How large of a gap, though, exactly? Let’s find out.

A win this week could put McIlroy on Scheffler’s heel

Thanks to his brilliance of late, World No. 1 has 414.53602 as per the OWGR site. Rory McIlroy has a tally far less substantial at 356.61752.  At nearly a 60-point difference, the gap is undoubtedly too large to be filled in just a week; however, the winner of the Cognizant Classic stands to receive 50 points. So if the 24-time PGA Tour winner does manage to grab his 25th win, he will be only 9 points (approx.) behind Scheffler!

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Notably, the number of events played between the two for the gathered points is just one, with the 27-year-old having played one more (45) than McIlroy. Which means they will literally be going head-to-head when they next meet if things go in favor of the Florida resident this week. Whether that will be the case, though, only time will tell. Stay tuned to find out.

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