What a difference a year makes.

Twelve months ago, Rory McIlroy bore more than a passing resemblance to Atlas as he looked like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. The venue was Wentworth, the event was the BMW PGA Championship but it wasn't a golfing engagement everybody was chattering about. It was the day before the European Tour's flagship tournament and McIlroy had suddenly called off his wedding to tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, just as the invitations had been stuck in the post box and the hats and fascinators were being ordered.

A few days later, amid the kind of microscopic scrutiny usually reserved for cell cultures in a petri dish, McIlroy had put all the personal tumult behind him and won the title, surging from seven strokes behind on the final day as overnight leader Thomas Bjorn withered on the West course.

It was a triumph against the odds and one that would help ignite a shimmering summer for the young Northern Irishman. The single life would have a significant impact on his sporting life. McIlroy's post championship reflections were telling.

"I think it's the start of something," he said. "I think the game is waiting for one guy or one or two guys just to kick on. I stand by that comment; that I'd like to be that guy. I'd like to think that this is a springboard to doing something like that."

That springboard would propel him to new heights as he won the Open Championship, the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and the US PGA Championship in successive appearances to underline his position as the best player on the planet.

McIlroy will be back in the leafy Surrey stockbroker belt this week as the European Tour circus finally rumbles back to its headquarters in the UK for the first time in 2015. With the Irish Open, supported by McIlroy, following straight after at Royal County Down, the next fortnight will see the golf season in these Isles begin to build up a head of steam before the Scottish Open and The Open in July.

Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia may have chosen to snub their own tour's biggest championship, but the field scrapping it out for a sizeable chunk of the €5 million prize pot remains impressive.

Patrick Reed, the American Ryder Cup player, has made the trip across the Atlantic, while eight members of the European team that beat Reed and company at Gleneagles last September, have all pitched up.

That number includes Justin Rose, the 2013 US Open champion, who was runner-up in the Masters last month and swiftly got himself back to winning ways a fortnight later when he won the Zurich Classic.

Another Englishman, Luke Donald, could do with a McIlroy-type tonic at Wentworth as he looks to hoist himself back up the global order. When Donald successfully defended the BMW PGA Championship title in 2012, the victory returned him to the top of the world rankings. But this year, the quiet man of golf is not making much noise. The 37-year-old is down in 55th spot on the world standings and has just one top-10 to his name. Third at Wentworth last year, Donald will be hoping to revel in the home comforts again.

The Scottish assault is spearheaded by Stephen Gallacher, who was fifth last season, and Marc Warren, who lost out on the title in a three-man play-off in 2013. Paul Lawrie, joint second during his renaissance year of 2012, is also in a tartan army that is looking for a first PGA triumph since Scott Drummond in 2004.