Rory McIlroy chases Jordan Spieth’s No. 1 ranking in Abu Dhabi

Jordan Spieth got off to a pretty good start to the new year with that eight-stroke laugher in Hawaii, but Rory McIlroy over the weekend served notice on the world’s top golfer that this week marks the official kickoff of his campaign to reclaim the No. 1 ranking.

McIlroy, the European Tour’s two-time defending Race to Dubai champion, and Spieth, Player of the Year on the PGA Tour, headline the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, with the latter in the catbird seat and the former in third behind Jason Day. Thursday’s start will be the first for McIlroy since his one-shot victory at the DP World Golf Championship in November, while Spieth’s Tournament of Champions romp was his sixth official W in his last 22 PGA events.

The former Boy Wonder has made it clear he’s comin’ for young Jordan.

“If I can get off to a good start next year,” McIlroy told BBC.com recently, “I can get back to number one going into the Masters.”

On the off chance his opponent somehow missed the challenge, McIlroy opined late last year that Spieth would feel the heat after lighting up the course with two majors and three other PGA Tour triumphs in 2015.

“It will feel completely different for Jordan,” McIlroy told The Telegraph. “If you look at the stats at how those who have had a double-major season have performed the next year … well, it’s hard to back up. It just is. There’s so much expectation, so much attention and focus. And I think it is more self-inflicted pressure really as your expectations are so high.

“This time last year mine were through the roof coming off a great season, winning those back-to-back majors,” said McIlroy, whose ankle injury fettered the middle of his campaign following a two-major 2014. “Although I started well I never felt I really got into my stride with the injuries and stuff.”

Spieth, ahead of his appearance at the winners-only tourney at Kapalua, appeared to second the sentiment ...

... but perhaps he was just trolling the guy golf enthusiasts have touted as his rival for years to come.

The 22-year-old then went out and lapped the stellar lineup in Maui, matching Tiger Woods in becoming just the second man to lift seven PGA Tour trophies before his 23rd birthday. He celebrated by learning he had ousted Woods from his 13-year perch atop golf’s top earners and adding a few more zeros to his bank account by inking a huge deal with Coca-Cola.

The calendar may show a new year but it was the same ol’ same ol’ for Spieth.

“Doesn’t an encore mean that the show is then over?” Spieth asked reporters two days before taking the field for the ToC. “I hope I’ve got like 40 years out here. If we’re calling like I’ve just had my first half of my career, and here’s the -- I’d like to just, again, to be honest, I’m not thinking of this as anything different.

“We’re just continuing -- the month changed, the year changed. When you write the date, that’s about it in my mind. I think we’ve just had a little bit of a break,” he added. “I’ve had plenty of playing and practice to be plenty ready to try and win this week and then take our game over to Asia in a couple weeks, then I’ll come back here and get to my normal schedule.”

And though Spieth shows no signs of slumping following his incredible 2015, no matter what the competition, everybody’s favorite pitchman offered a pitch-perfect comment regarding the upcoming shootout in the Middle East.

Should be a fun year.

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