McIlroy returns with a wedding ring and new clubs in the bag

Here is a look at the odds for The Players Championship.

Eight months after Nike announced it would cease it's golf equipment line, Rory McIlroy has found a new home.

Even that enormous sum pales into insignificance when compared with the Northern Irishman's off-course earnings, which were this week boosted by a multi-million pound equipment deal with TaylorMade.

"This is a golf course where I ve had to rein in my game over the years", McIlroy said.

"Well, we thought, we have people at the wedding who are 80 and people who are 20", he said.

"Erica and I are looking forward to being in attendance and I feel very honoured Sergio asked me". But since the Tour Championship, he has played only seven events - Johnson has 10 starts during that span - his progress derailed by an early-season rib injury.

"There's not many question marks going on in my life right now", he said. "I don't think that will change just because I'm married or not".

"I feel like everything s exactly where it s meant to be, and if you feel like that off the golf course, then I can only imagine that it will help you on it".

Yet, after finishing seventh in the Masters at Augusta, McIlroy made a decision to go "back to the drawing board". The defending champion is Jason Day, who went wire to wire a year ago.

He threw away a good chance to win at the Bridgestone Invitational when he lost the lead on the back nine by missing the last six greens in regulation.

With Dustin Johnson now nearly five points clear in the world rankings - a gap bettered only by Tiger Woods in the past two decades - McIlroy realises time is of the essence.

"I still feel like on my day I'm the best player in the world, but there's a lot of competition out here".

"I ve definitely limited the amount of drivers I ve hit". We play for a lot of money. "I've got one in the bag that I'm trying out, but I want to try and see if I can find one that feels a little more familiar to me". And then an old nemesis - back pain - returned during the FedEx Cup playoffs, and the 29-year-old Australian withdrew during the last two tournaments.

His longest stay at No. 1 was 54 weeks - only Woods, Greg Norman and Nick Faldo have had longer stretches (Woods holds the record at 281 weeks from 2005-10). What kept Nick Faldo going?

He is also endorsed by Santander, Omega and Bose, which helped him top the Golf Digest list in April with annual incomings estimated to be almost US$50m (NZ$72m).

The move would also likely be a positive one for the European Tour's Race to Dubai "Final Series", which finishes in mid-November, meaning it could prove a more viable proposition on the schedule for the world's best to compete in. When I retire one day, if I can put away the clubs and know that I've given it 100 per cent I'll be happy with it, because I've done my best.