Weekly Recap: Rory Remains on a Roll

Let's get this out of the way: No, Rory McIlroy did not win a major in 2022. Again. For the eighth straight year.

That doesn't mean he didn't have a good year or a great year or even the best year. You'll get plenty of valid arguments against that last part from Scottie Scheffler supporters and even Cameron Smith backers.

McIlroy won THE CJ CUP in South Carolina on Sunday over a flat-out loaded field for this third victory of 2022, propelling him back to No. 1 in the world. Scheffler fell to No. 2, just ahead of Smith.

In ascending to the top spot in the rankings for the ninth time in his career and the first time since July of 2020, McIlroy methodically navigated four trips around Congaree Golf Club to shoot 66-67-67-67, beating surprise runner-up Kurt Kitayama by two strokes.

Those four rounds totaling 17-under-par largely mirror the consistency that McIlroy has shown in 2022. Beginning with his runner-up to Scheffler at the Masters in April, McIlroy has recorded three wins, two runners-up and five other top-5s in 15 starts. Three of those came in majors, in which McIlroy finished 2nd-8th-5th-3rd.

"It's been a wild six months," McIlroy told reporters in South Carolina. "I figured a few things out with my game, and I've just been on a really good run. Everything sort of feels like it's came together for me and today was just a continuation of how I felt like I've been playing over these last few months. Now it's all about going forward and trying to just keep this going."

Scheffler won four times, including a major, while Smith won twice, including THE PLAYERS and the Open Championship. McIlroy won the TOUR Championship and hoisted the FedEx Cup.

It' safe to say the three of them were head and shoulders above anybody else this year, not that the year is over. Well, it is for Smith, who left for LIV. Scheffler will play at least one more time at next month's Houston Open and, presumably, could regain the top spot.

Still, no matter what happens in the final weeks of the year, this will go down as one of the greatest seasons in PGA Tour history that didn't include a major victory. Yes, we know those last five words take a lot of juice out of the proclamation. Let's add a little more juice back: McIlroy did all he did on the golf course while becoming "The Voice of the PGA Tour," its conscience and frontman in combatting LIV Golf, all incredibly taxing mentally and emotionally.

McIlroy is now 33, he has 23 PGA Tour wins -- four of which are majors, however long ago they came. He's done enough already to probably be considered among the top 20 golfers of all-time.

His place in the game matters to him. He talked after defending his CJ CUP title how much returning to No. 1 means, and you could see how much as tears welled up in his eyes. It's clear he has a lot left in the tank.

You begin to think of golfers in a historical perspective as they get older, especially after a year like McIlroy just had.

If only he could add one or two more majors.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler's reign as No. 1 lasted almost seven months. It was a well-deserved honor, as he ran off four wins in six starts early in the year culminating with his Masters triumph. Scheffler has had some very good weeks since then – runner-up at the Charles Schwab, runner-up at the U.S. Open and third at the BMW Championship – but not enough to warrant the top spot in the world. Scheffler tied for 45th at the CJ Cup. He's now No. 2 in the world. He is close enough to McIlroy to overtake him soon, perhaps even before the end of the year (Scheffler has already committed to next month's Houston Open). But ever since Augusta, McIlroy has been the far better golfer.

Kurt Kitayama
Kitayama finished as runner-up to McIlroy to reach the top-50 in the world rankings for the first time at No. 41. We would say this is the best result of the Californian's career except that it may not be. He was also third at the Honda, second to Jon Rahm at the Mexico Open and runner-up to Xander Schauffele at the Scottish Open. In other words, this has been a big-time year for the 29-year-old Kitayama.

K.H. Lee
Lee is ranked in the 40s in the world rankings, largely because he won the Byron Nelson the past two years. But he has shown some flashes in other weeks, none better than his solo third in this loaded field. He also was top-5 in another tough field at the BMW Championship. And Lee was pretty fierce in a losing effort at the Presidents Cup. On the other hand, there have been so many bad weeks that it's hard to fully trust Lee. But we can't ignore him either.

Jon Rahm
Rahm was a shot behind McIlroy heading into Sunday and opened with three birdies in the first five holes. His rally stalled at that point, and he ended in a tie for fourth, three shots back. Rahm has been playing much better of late than at the beginning of 2022, because his short-game woes were working themselves out. He ranked third at the CJ Cup in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and 29th in SG: Putting. Finishing fourth when your putting is not helping much shows how good the rest of Rahm's game truly is.

Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood was back in the pack after an opening 73. But he closed 66-66-65 to zoom into a tie for fourth. He ranked 13th in the field in SG: Putting, and the stats have been showing vastly improved putting for the Englishman.

Aaron Wise
Wise opened with a pair of 66s. He couldn't sustain that pace, but he did still finish sixth. A great result for him in this field, especially at $7800 on DraftKings. As we wrote about with Wise in the DraftKings Picks and Strategy article, Wise's putting is vastly improved. He was fifth in Strokes Gained: Putting at Congaree and, if that can continue, some really great things can happen for Wise this season.

Billy Horschel
Since the Tour Championship, Horschel hadn't played a Tour event. But he did played the Presidents Cup and also went to Europe, where he had a pair of top-10s in two starts. Now he's added a third in a far tougher field, tying for seventh. Horschel had done virtually nothing on the PGA Tour after winning the Memorial. Maybe he is snapping out of it.

Sam Burns
Burns is ranked 12th in the world. He won multiple times last season. The golf community generally thinks of him as a world-class golfer. The thing is, he has quite a few off-weeks. Burns tied for seventh at Congaree, his first top-10 since June. Really, the next step for Burns to join the true elites of the game is consistency. And winning a major.

Lee Hodges
Hodges had some good weeks during his rookie season on Tour, no doubt making him think that he can compete on the PGA Tour. The past two weeks surely reinforced those feelings. Hodges followed a top-25 in a good ZOZO field with a tie for seventh in a loaded CJ Cup.

Jason Day
When Day tied for eighth at the Shriners a few weeks back, we said that one week would do little to change our stance on the now largely irrelevant former world No. 1. Well, Day has tied for 11th at Congaree –and in a significantly stronger field. We're still not sold on Day, but we will admit he is at least a little bit less irrelevant than he was a few days ago.

Taylor Montgomery
After three ho-hum rounds left him far back in the pack, Montgomery blazed around Congaree on Sunday to the tune of 9-under 62. He climbed into a tie for 13th, continuing to show he could be the breakout star among the Korn Ferry grads. Montgomery ranked seventh in the field in SG: Putting, which clearly is his meal ticket.

Mito Pereira
We may never know how serious the Pereira-to LIV rumors late last season really were (or if they could resurface). But he's been playing well during the fall season. The top-50 golfer added a T18 at the CJ Cup to a top-5 at the Shriners and a pretty fair Presidents Cup.

Rickie Fowler
To think that Fowler would suddenly become great again would've been overly optimistic. With a tie for sixth at the Fortinet and then a close call ending with a co-runner-up at the ZOZO, the signs of improved play are obvious. But Fowler's arrow, while pointing up again for the first time in a long time, is not pointing straight up. There will be so-so weeks, such as at the CJ Cup, where Fowler tied for 34th.

Justin Thomas
Thomas' largely mediocre 2022 continued with a tie for 40th. Yes, he won the PGA Championship and, yes, he's had some other good results. But there aren't many people who would say that Thomas is playing like the No. 8 player in the world right now.

Russell Henley
You would think that one of the best iron players in the game would be slump-proof. That apparently is not the case. Henley tied for 45th, extending a stretch of poor play that has gone on since April. In 12 tournaments beginning with the Masters, Henley has only two top-25s. That one was T10 (at the Rocket Mortgage) and the other was a T5 (at the Wyndham) doesn't do enough to kill the original premise of a slump.

Jordan Spieth
Spieth sure looked great the Presidents Cup. But not at the CJ Cup. In his first and perhaps only official start of the fall season, Spieth opened with a 75 and never got anything going, tying for 52nd.

S.H. Kim
Kim Is a 24-year-old South Korean who graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour. He didn't have a great week at the CJ Cup, tying for 64th and failing to break 70 any day. We mention him because he is one of the highest-ranked players in next week's Bermuda Championship, and he has played quite well overall so far this season. Kim was fourth at the Shiners and 13th at the Sanderson Farms. We'll be keeping a close on Kim when DraftKings prices come out on Monday.