Jordan Spieth misses second straight cut but reclaims No. 1 ranking from Rory McIlroy

Jordan Spieth may have missed the cut at the Deutsche Bank Championship, which Rickie Fowler won on Monday, but thanks to Rory McIlroy’s struggles and the oddities of the world ranking system, he regained the No. 1 slot.

For one week, and then the winner of two major titles in 2015 who bombed out of his second straight FedEx Cup playoff game will hand the top ranking back to McIlroy — who grabbed the crown back from Spieth ahead of the DBC by skipping the first postseason tilt.

Go figure — or don’t; it will just make your eyes cross.

So it goes in the up-and-down, back-and-forth battle for first place in the world of golf that, if it were a week-to-week competition rather than a confusing algorithm based on a two-year rolling formula that gives more weight to older events, would have Jason Day reigning supreme over both Spieth and McIlroy.

McIlroy conceded as much after finishing with a 5-under 66 to get to 3-under for the week, 12 shots behind Fowler’s winning score at TPC Boston.

And it’s surely not Spieth, who has two weeks before the BMW Championship to figure out how to get back into the weekend, let alone contention, in the PGA Tour’s final two events of the postseason.

Day entered the DBC on the strength of three wins in his previous four tournaments, including his first major win at the PGA Championship. The world’s third-ranked player finished T12 and, though admittedly exhausted from the post-PGA whirlwind, appeared in far more control of his game than either No. 1 or No. 2.

“This is something in my career I’ve never done. I’ve done a lot of things I’ve never done positively this year. This is something I’ve never done that’s negative,” Spieth said after Saturday’s second-round 73 (combined with an opening 75) forced his early exit. “It’s just weird. It’s almost like a bad dream.”

Spieth planned to put the clubs away for several days and then return to the course with his signature swagger.

“I don’t think I have to fix much in my game other than really work hard on my putting,” he said. “I can control walking with the cockiness, whether things are going good or bad, and that’s what you have to have inside the ropes. And I’ll bring it when we get to Chicago.”

McIlroy, who was competing in only his second tourney in 10 weeks due to the ankle he injured in July, has another brief layoff to work out the kinks and shake off the rust. He contended that top billing was not his most pressing concern and that he had his sights set on the Tour Championship.

“I’d love to play well next week and get myself into the top five going into Atlanta,” McIlroy said. “That’s still the goal.”

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