European Tour: Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship power rankings

Some players can take an extended offseason and most golf fans wouldn’t notice. In this day and age where there’s a tournament every week attracting at least a few big names, three months without Rory seemed like a lot.

In the end, the time off couldn’t have hurt as McIlroy dealt with the effects of a rib injury at various points in the season.

He still showed us he’s got game in 2017 in a career-low 18 worldwide starts. McIlroy finished runner up at the BMW South African Open and the British Masters with top-tens at the Masters and the Open Championship.

The attention on Tiger’s comeback will be greatest in 2018, but the game will highly benefit if McIlroy is back to winning multiple events a year, too.

Here in Abu Dhabi, McIlroy’s record at this event is akin to Phil Mickelson’s constant near misses at the US Open.

McIlroy has four runner-ups, all between 2011-15, and two other top-fives without a win. He’s only missed the cut once and has got to be the leader here in cumulative strokes under par since his debut in 2008.