Rory McIlroy will not play in Bridgestone Invitational

It will be the second straight tournament that McIlroy will miss as the defending champion, and will present Jordan Spieth with another opportunity to take Rory's number one world ranking spot.

"Unfortunately, I will not be defending my World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational title," McIlroy said in a statement from tournament organisers. Best of luck to all the competitors and I look forward to returning to Firestone in 2016."

McIlroy did not indicate if he would be able to play the PGA Championship on Aug. 13-16 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, which is where he won the PGA Championship last year for his fourth career major. A cruciate injury can take up to three months to heal, so we are not holding our breaths.