US PGA: McIlroy’s expectation levels the same as he returns

He's back, for real. As if any further proof of his fitness were required beyond the stress tests imposed on his body by fitness expert Dr Steve McGregor's rehabilitation programme far from the madding crowd in Portugal these past few weeks, world number one Rory McIlroy has played more practice rounds than anyone here at Whistling Straits in preparation for his return to competition.

And, for good measure, the 26-year-old Northern Irishman – who hasn't played competitively since the US Open in June – took in a 20-minute run. In other words, he's good to go in defence of his US PGA title, ready and willing to take on all-comers.

McIlroy ruptured his ATFL ligament in his left ankle playing football with his friends back home in Belfast in early July, but he doesn’t intend to wrap himself up in cotton wool going forward.

Surgery

Casual games of football remain on his list of things to do. “It’s unfortunate that it happened. It can happen walking off a tee box. It can happen falling off a curb on the side of the street. It can happen doing anything,” he said.

“Unfortunately, my foot just got stuck on the turf and went over on it. It could have been much worse . It could have required surgery.”

Although Tiger Woods intimated earlier in the week that McIlroy would eventually have to consider surgery on the ankle, McIlroy himself believed that his strength and conditioning regime would be sufficient to ensure there are no further issues: “That ligament I ruptured, I don’t have that any more. So I’ve only got two ligaments on the outside of ankle instead of three . . .

Maintain integrity

“It’s about trying to strengthen the ankle and maintain as much integrity in it as possible. So, for the rest of my career, it’s going to be a matter of doing extra single leg stuff in the gym . . . and rubber cushion stuff . . . to maintain the integrity of the ankle . ”

McIlroy doesn't believe that his absence from tournaments for over a month (which included missing out on his defences of the British Open and the Bridgestone Invitational) or lack of competition will impact on his defence here.

“My expectation levels are the same. I feel like I’m hitting it well on the range and I’ve taken that onto the course in practice rounds and from there it’s being able to take it into tournament play . . .”