No 1 Spieth Replaces McIlroy

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Jordan Spieth has replaced Rory McIlroy as world number one after finishing second to Jason Day in the US PGA Championship.

McIlroy finished 17th at Whistling Straits on his return to action following the ankle injury which kept him out of the Open and Bridgestone Invitational, two tournaments he won last year.

And that meant Spieth became the second youngest player after Tiger Woods to top the rankings, despite being unable to claim a record-equalling third major title in one season.

Day's first major title lifts him from fifth to third and means the world's top three are aged 22, 26 and 27 respectively.

McIlroy admitted Jordan Spieth deserved to replace him as world number one following after the Irishman carded a closing round of 69 to finish nine under par and alone in 17th.

"Honestly the way Jordan has been playing and the way I haven't played much this year - I think that was only my 12th or 13th event - it's very deservedly so," said McIlroy, who had not played since the US Open in June after rupturing an ankle ligament playing football with friends on 4 July.

"Winning two majors, winning a couple of other times this year, had a chance at the Open, had a chance today. I'd be the first one to congratulate him because I know the golf you have to play to get to that spot, and it has been impressive this year."

Asked if regaining top spot would give him extra motivation, McIlroy added: "Not really. I've always said that winning golf tournaments takes care of all of that stuff. Right now I'm focused on just getting my game the way I think it has to be to win tournaments like this."

Spieth, 22, who becomes the second youngest world number one after Tiger Woods, said: "It feels really good. It's an unbelievable feeling.

"I knew walking up the 16th Jason was going to win so I was focusing on finishing second and accomplishing a career goal. So much work has gone into this and what a year it has been."

McIlroy was left to rue rounds of 71 on Thursday and Friday which left him too much to do, but added: "Looking at it as a whole, I feel like I've done well to come back and shoot the scores that I have. I feel like I progressed each and every day.

"If I was to take back anything of this week, it would just be probably that second day when we teed off in benign conditions in the morning and I didn't take advantage of that.

"I'm walking away pretty happy with how the week went. Obviously it isn't a win and I didn't get myself into contention, but considering six weeks ago I wasn't able to walk, it's not a bad effort."

McIlroy said his ankle had responded well to the difficult terrain at Whistling Straits, adding: "It's been great, honestly. I've had no discomfort with it at all.

"I'm still rehabbing it whenever I get back, I'm still doing exercise on it every night and every morning, getting treatment on it. But it's good.

"I'm hitting it the same distance as I have been, and able to get around 18 holes very easily. The residual swelling that just sort of comes from activity, that probably won't go away for another two or three months, but it's nothing to worry about."

McIlroy will skip the first FedEx Cup play-off event and return to action in the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston from 4-7 September.

McIlroy later wrote on Twitter: "2 inevitable things happened today, @JDayGolf winning a major and @JordanSpieth getting to 1 in the world! Congrats guys!! Inspiring stuff!"

Latest leading positions and points average: 

1 Jordan Spieth (USA) 12.47

2 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 12.24

3 Jason Day (Aus) 9.40

4 Bubba Watson (USA) 8.24

5 Justin Rose (Eng) 7.16

6 Jim Furyk (USA) 6.89, 7 Dustin Johnson (USA) 6.79, 8 Rickie Fowler (USA) 6.75, 9 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 6.02, 10 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 5.47, 11 Zach Johnson (USA) 4.88, 12 Adam Scott (Aus) 4.88, 13 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 4.79, 14 Jimmy Walker (USA) 4.62, 15 Matt Kuchar (USA) 4.43, 16 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 4.26, 17 Brooks Koepka (USA) 4.22, 18 Patrick Reed (USA) 4.08, 19 JB Holmes (USA) 4.05, 20 Branden Grace (Rsa) 3.94.

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Good Day in Kohler

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Jason Day and Matt Jones vaulted into a share of the lead at the 97th PGA Championship before the second round was suspended due to fierce thunderstorms at Whistling Straits.

The Australian pair were both five under for the day as they moved to nine under for the tournament, while Justin Rose was just a shot behind with one hole of his second round to complete when the players were forced to scurry for shelter.

Jordan Spieth is safely in the clubhouse well-placed on six under after an excellent 67 put him in good shape for the weekend, but Rory McIlroy has ground to make up after another day of frustration on the greens in a second consecutive 71.

On a day of low scoring, Hiroshi Iwata matched the best round in major history with a sparkling 63 that propelled him over 100 places up the leaderboard, while David Lingmerth claimed the clubhouse lead on seven under following a remarkable 70 that featured only five pars.

As overnight leader Dustin Johnson struggled to find his rhythm, Day's all-round game was in fine order as he birdied three of the first six holes before giving one back at the ninth after bunkering his approach.

Day responded with a run of three consecutive birdies from the 11th, and he had just found the green with his approach to the 15th before the sirens sounded to signal the players to leave the course.

"I'm glad that we are in," said Day. "It can get a little dangerous out there. It's a good idea to come back in the morning."

Jones started on the 10th and reeled off birdies at 11, 12 and 13 before adding another at the 18th to cap a back-nine 32, and he picked up a fifth birdie of a flawless day at the second.

He was on the fourth when play was called off for the day, while Rose was on the 18th tee having birdied three of his previous four holes following an entertaining outward nine in which he carded four birdies and a scrappy double-bogey six at the fourth.

Rose admitted it was going to be "a bit of a drag" to face a 5am alarm call for the scheduled 7am restart on Saturday, but joked: "I opened my big mouth to the boys I was playing with and said the end was in sight. Thirty seconds later they blew the horn, so my name was mud walking up the 18th."

Lingmerth raced to eight under with three birdies in the first five holes, but he then double-bogeyed the seventh and bogeyed the next two before starting the back-nine with four birdies in five holes while dropping further shots at 11 and 15.

The Swede closed out an amazing 70 with a 35-foot putt for birdie at the last, but it was Iwata who grabbed the majority of the headlines as he fired an eagle, eight birdies and one bogey to card the 27th round of 63 in the majors, the 34-year-old covering the back nine at Whistling Straits in just 29 to improve on his opening 77 by 14 shots.

Spieth began the day five shots off the pace and tipping playing partner McIlroy to make a move up the leaderboard, but it was the Masters and US Open champion who took advantage of the benign early conditions to shoot 67.

Defending champion McIlroy double-bogeyed the 18th hole, having begun on the back nine, and chipped in for an eagle on the second in an eventful second consecutive 71 to finish two under par.

But Tiger Woods looked certain to miss the halfway cut for the third straight major as he slumped to four over with five to play - two shots outside the projected cut.

The 39-year-old then announced he had committed to play in next week's Wyndham Championship in a last-gasp bid to qualify for the FedEx Cup play-offs.

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Rory McIlroy is Back

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Rory McIlroy has confirmed he will defend his US PGA Championship this week and says his ankle is "100 per cent" ready.

The world No 1 has declared himself fully fit and will tee-up at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin having not played a competitive round since June 21.

The 26-year-old has been sidelined since rupturing ligaments in his left ankle while playing football with friends in early July.

Subsequently, McIlroy was forced to sidestep the Scottish Open, the 144th Open and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, but after playing a practice round at Whistling Straits on Saturday says he is ready for his title defence.

He said: "To play golf my ankle's 100 per cent. To go back on a soccer pitch, it wouldn't be quite ready. But to do what I need to do this week, it's 100 per cent.

"It actually feels better when I go at it as hard as I want because my left foot sort of spins out of the way whenever I hit the driver anyway.

"If my left foot was to stay completely flat, like roll on to the left side like a lot of guys do, then it would obviously create a few problems.

“Because mine sort of spins out of the way, it takes a lot of pressure off it."

Since the injury, McIlroy has spent time in Portugal and he hopes he will be competitive enough to force his way into contention on Sunday afternoon.

Earlier this year he took seven weeks off before returning to action to finish second in the Desert Swing.

He added: "I think it's just the competitiveness of feeling what it's like to play a tournament.

"It's OK coming back to play Abu Dhabi as your first week back, but playing a major, it's a bit different.

"Just that sharpness and competitive edge, that's the thing you really hope is there when you come back."

And if McIlroy requires reassurances, then he needs to remember the achievement of Tiger Woods in 2008 when the American won the US Open at Torrey Pines having not teed-up since the Masters two months earlier.

McIlroy also admitted he was able to practice his short game while wearing a protective boot on his injured ankle. He told the Daily Mail: "I've been chipping and putting basically since it happened, with my protective boot on.

"I did think about coming back last week at the Bridgestone but Steve (McGregor, his fitness coach) held me back.

“He thought it important for me to basically play a tournament behind closed doors and after I completed that successfully, it felt the right time to come."

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