If it all seems a bit bizarre that Rory McIlroy – winner of two Majors, the British Open and the US PGA, as well as the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational inside the past two months – should be playing catch-up on anyone in pursuit of the FedEx Cup bonus prize of $10 million, well, it is. Bizarre, that is.

However, the system employed by the PGA Tour to maximise excitement in its play-off series is to reward performances in the four counting events – the Barclays, the Deutsche Bank, the BMW and the season-ending Tour Championship – means that McIlroy has to keep the foot to the floor right to the end. So it is that the Ulsterman heads into the BMW starting tomorrow at Cherry Hills in Colorado playing catch-up on Chris Kirk, winner of the Deutsche Bank title in Boston on Monday.

Yet, McIlroy remains very much in the hunt for the huge payout. He is currently in second place behind Kirk but the points will again be reset heading into next week’s finale at the Tour Championship to give every player a mathematical chance of winning the FedEx Cup. However, it is only the players in the top five heading into the Tour Championship at East Lake who control their own destiny. A win there for any of the top five would earn them the FedEx Cup title and the top bonus of $10 million.

McIlroy is assured of being in the top five, regardless of how he performs in Cherry Hills. “I’m going to Denver with a chance to get back to number one (in the FedEx standings) again,” said McIlroy,

“I’m going next week to Denver with a chance to get back to number one again . . . It seems like (staying in) those top two positions have a much greater chance of winning the overall thing. Hopefully I can consolidate where I am in Denver and play another solid tournament and give myself another chance to win, that’s all I can ask. At this point I’m just looking for wins.”