Can Rory McIlroy return to World No. 1 spot at the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship?

The current World No. 2 Rory McIlroy has a great chance to climb back to the number one rank in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) at the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship.

All he needs to do is finish higher than Scottie Scheffler and hope for the latter to finish either on T5 or lower on the leaderboard.

The Northern Irish golfer started his 2022-23 season as the first-ranked golfer in the OWGR. However, after Scheffler won the WM Phoenix, he slipped from the top spot and never regained it.

Rory McIlroy with the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open trophy (via Getty Images)

McIlroy has finished 10 times inside the top 10 out of 15 starts this season, including once on the DP World Tour. He played in all four majors this season and except for Masters Tournament (where he missed the cut), he finished in the top 10 in all the other three events.

Interestingly, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Jon Rahm have constantly occupied the top three spots in the OWGR since July 2021.

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Where do Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler stand on the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship after the second round?

After finishing T15 in the opening round, both the golfers have again been locked at the same spot, i.e., T8 on the leaderboard at TPC Southwind, Memphis.

Both Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler scored 67 and 66 in the first two rounds and are under 7 currently. They will look to maximize the third round's play to go higher on the leaderboard.

Following is what the leaderboard looks like after the second round of the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship:

• 1 - Lucas Glover
• 2 - Jordan Spieth
• T3 - Sungjae Im
• T3 - Taylor Moore
• T3 - Tommy Fleetwood
• T3 - Emiliano Grillo
• T3 - Tom Kim
• T8 - Adam Hadwin
• T8 - J.T. Poston
• T8 - Lee Hodges
• T8 - Scottie Scheffler
• T8 - Rory McIlroy
• T8 - Cameron Davis
• T14 - Xander Schauffele
• T14 - Max Homa
• T14 - Stephan Jaeger
• T14 - Aaron Rai
• T18 - Mackenzie Hughes
• T18 - Andrew Putnam
• T18 - Byeong Hun An
• T18 - Adam Svensson
• T18 - Sahith Theegala
• T18 -Collin Morikawa
• T18 - Kurt Kitayama
• T18 - Adam Schenk
• T18 - Russell Henley
• T18 - Patrick Cantlay
• T18 - Si Woo Kim
• T18 - Ben Griffin
• T30 - Thomas Detry
• T30 - Nick Hardy
• T30 - Tom Hoge
• T30 - Eric Cole
• T30 - Viktor Hovland
• T30 - Hideki Matsuyama
• T30 - Sam Stevens
• T30 - Vincent Norrman
• 38 - Brendon Todd
• T39 - Cameron Young
• T39 - Chris Kirk
• T39 - Keegan Bradley
• T39 - Keith Mitchell
• T39 - Sam Ryder
• T39 - Beau Hossler
• T39 - J.J. Spaun
• T46 - Corey Conners
• T46 - Tyrrell Hatton
• T46 - Nick Taylor
• T46 - Brian Harman
• T46 - Hayden Buckley
• T51 - Taylor Montgomery
• T51 - Denny McCarthy
• T51 - Tony Finau
• T51 - Jason Day
• T51 - Jon Rahm
• T51 - Matthew NeSmith
• T57 - Harris English
• T57 - Matt Fitzpatrick
• T57 - Mark Hubbard
• T60 - Patrick Rodgers
• T60 - Brandon Wu
• T62 - Davis Riley
• T62 - Justin Rose
• T62 - Sam Burns
• T62 - Matt Kuchar
• T66 - Alex Smalley
• T66 - Seamus Power
• T66 - Rickie Fowler
• 69 - Sepp Straka
• 70 - Wyndham Clark

Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, alongside Lee Hodges, are paired together and will tee off at 12:14 pm ET for the third round.