A dream will come true for Rory McIlroy when he tees up in the Alfred Dunhill Links with Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton.

The Ulster teenager is a lifelong United supporter and had originally been due to play with businessman Mike de Kock whom he partnered as he shot to the attention of the golfing world with his third place finish last year in just his second event as a professional.

But a few strings were pulled behind the scenes to pair McIlroy with the World Cup winning Charlton.

As well as being a regular tour event, the Alfred Dunhill Links is a Pro-Am with a team prize to play for.

McIlroy is determined to force his way into the top hundred in the world rankings by the end of the season and is sure to be buoyed by the prospect of playing on two of his favourite courses this week, St Andrews and Carnoustie, scenes of his great triumphs in 2007.

He rounded off his amateur career by winning the silver medal at Carnoustie last summer and his four under final round 68 at St Andrews at this event last year secured his European Tour card in just his second event as a professional.

McIlroy set himself a target of breaking into the world’s top hundred at the start of the season and is currently just outside at 116.

Darren Clarke is another man with the world rankings on his mind.

The Ulsterman missed the cut after a first round 80 at the Belfrey last week which he took with unusually good humour as large amounts of money were raised for the cancer charity he supports.

Clarke needs to get back into the top 50 to get back into the Majors and World Golf Championships and is currently 64th.

Meanwhile Ernie Els believes that Tiger Woods shouldn’t rush back to the game as he recovers from knee surgery.

Els, who suffered a similar type of injury in 2005, said at St Andrews that he had tried to come back too early.

"Your left knee is very important in the golf swing and I still felt it at least a year, a year and a half after the surgery. It's something major. Every time someone asked about my knee I said it was fine but it wasn't. I think it was the Open at Hoylake in 2006 when I finally felt I was getting over it.

"Whenever the weather was warm I would feel comfortable, but whenever it was cold it was horrible.

"Tiger can probably come back earlier but he wants to be 100% ready so who knows? Whether that's next year, the middle of next year or by the US Masters in April, who knows? I was very stubborn. I wanted to come back as soon as possible and set a date for the event at Sun City and that was definitely too early."