It has been 91 days since World No. 1 Rory McIlroy birdied his closing three holes on day one in defence of his Players Championship.
It was around 9pm local time later that day on Thursday 12th March when McIlroy received a PGA Tour ‘group’ text message to advise the flagship Tour event was cancelled due to fears over the growing Coronavirus concern.
In the intervening time McIlroy has also seen the cancellation of his defence of the RBC Canadian Open while the 149th Open Championship, and with McIlroy winner of the 2014 Open, also now not taking place to 2021.
Finally, after a three-month absence McIlroy will step back onto the first tee at a PGA Tour event and joining World No. 2 Jon Rahm and current World No. 3 Brooks Koepka in one of many featured groups over the opening two rounds at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
It will be McIlroy’s first appearance on the famed par-70 Colonial Country Club course where all those entering the golf course are greeted by a statue of legendary Lone Star State hero Ben Hogan.
FEATURED GROUPS
Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka
Notable: McIlroy (1), Rahm (2) and Koepka (3) are the top three players in the Official World Golf Ranking
• McIlroy, who is making his first start at the Charles Schwab Challenge, has two wins in his PGA TOUR career when making a tournament debut – 2010 Wells Fargo Championship, 2019 RBC Canadian Open
• In three starts at Colonial Country Club, Rahm has earned two top-fives, highlighted by a T2 in 2017
• In his lone Charles Schwab Challenge appearance in 2018, Koepka shot a pair of 63s (R2, R4) to finish second, marking the only time in his PGA TOUR career he recorded multiple sub-65 scores
Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth
• Fowler has two top-10s in six starts on the season (T5/Sentry Tournament of Champions, T10/The American Express)
• Thomas enters the week No. 2 in the FedExCup standings as one of two players with multiple wins on the season (THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, Sentry Tournament of Champions)
• A Dallas native, Spieth has one win (2016) and two T2s (2015, 2017) in seven starts at the Charles Schwab Challenge
Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose
• DeChambeau has finished in the top five in his last three starts (T5/The Genesis Invitational, 2nd/WGC-Mexico Championship, 4th/Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard)
• 20-time PGA TOUR winner Johnson enters the week No. 111 in the FedExCup standings and has not missed the TOUR Championship since his rookie season (134th/2008)
• In 2018, Justin Rose became the first player to win the Charles Schwab Challenge and go on to win the FedExCup in the same season
Phil Mickelson, Kevin Na, Gary Woodland
• Mickelson, a 44-time PGA TOUR winner, holds two Charles Schwab Challenge titles (2000, 2008)
• Defending champion Na earned his third PGA TOUR title at the 2019 Charles Schwab Challenge; he earned his fourth earlier this season at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open
• Woodland, the reigning U.S. Open champion, has four top-10s on the season, including a T8 at The Honda Classic in his most recent start
