Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is European Tour Golfer of the Year for the third time in the last four seasons. He is ranked number three in the world at the moment due to the exploits on American Jordan Spieth and Australian Jason Day of Australia.
McIlroy became the seventh player in the history of the European Tour to win in consecutive seasons. His three victories in 2015 season were the Dubai Desert Classic, the WGC-Cadillac Match Play and the DP World Tour Championship, his second win for the season in Dubai.
Another reason for his lower finish in the world rankings this year was missing five weeks during the peak of the season when he injured his ankle fooling around with his friends playing soccer. Hopefully, no players from the English Premier League will take their cue from him and experience a season-ending injury from practicing putting.
At just 26 years of age, McIlroy makes a total mockery of the game when he is driving accurately, often hitting short irons and wedge second shots of par fives. He finished a respectable fourth in the Masters, ninth in the U.S. Open, but the injury kept him away from defending his title at The Open Championship. When he returned to play in the U.S. PGA Championship, he was rusty and still not completely recovered and finished 17th.
