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Rory McIlroy was pleased with his comeback at the US PGA Championship despite not being able to defend his title at Whistling Straits.
Coming into the tournament, the 26 year old had not played a competitive round since a closing 66 at the US Open Championship at Chambers Bay after suffering ankle ligament damage whilst playing football with friends in early July.
But he finished 17th in Wisconsin after rounds of 71-71-68-69 and is confident he will be back to his best soon.
"I feel like I did well," he said "Obviously coming back after the lay-off, not hitting a competitive shot in two months, shooting nine under was a decent effort.
"I didn't see 19 under winning this week. I thought something between ten and 15 but it just shows you how high the standard is these days.
"But first week, coming back, I thought I did pretty well."
He added: "The ankle is fine. We came up with a plan that after this week I could take a couple of weeks off just in case anything did happen or there were any setbacks.
"It feels fine, but I'm just going to take a couple of weeks off and not need a strap or anything to play. And then after that I've got another week off, so by the time I'm in the middle of September, there will be no issues and hopefully I can give it a good run in the FedEx Cup.
"I felt like I gave it a good run this week and the ankle is in good shape.
"Overnight the ankle did swell a bit, but once I got it moving and compressed it a bit, it was fine. It probably won't look like a normal ankle for two or three months, but there is no pain in it, which is the main thing."
The Northern Irishman began his round on Sunday with five pars but made a sensational up and down from the rough to make birdie on the sixth and followed that with another on the seventh.
Another gain was made on the tenth and, despite dropping a shot on the 13th, McIlroy picked up another on the 16th and feels his game will come back together as he plays more often.
"I just need to sharpen up," he said. "I feel like ball striking-wise, tee to green, it's there. And it's sort of been there all year. If anything, just around the greens (I've got to be) being more efficient, really. When I give myself opportunities inside, wedges in my hand, I've got to take advantage of those.
"And today is a prime example, it's my fourth day of competitive playing, getting those two balls up and down on 17 and 18, that's something just playing a bit more and just having experience with certain shots and certain lies.
"That all just comes with playing a bit more."
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