After his first round at the Players Championship, Rory McIlroy made the surprising announcement he’s been bothered by a back injury. Today, he revealed a lot more.
McIlroy displayed signs of discomfort during his second round, including a quick grab of his back after hitting his tee shot on the first hole. And then after signing for a one-under-par 71, he told reporters he has an MRI scheduled for Monday.
“Yeah, I’ve been struggling with it a bit this week, sort of felt it for the first time on Sunday,” McIlroy said. “Then I’ve just sort of been managing it since. So it’s OK, it’s manageable. It’s not, obviously not a hundred percent, but it’s good enough to get myself around here for the next couple of days. I’m going for a MRI scan on Monday just to make sure it’s not serious and then I’ll see what we do from there.”
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But not before McIlroy plays the weekend at TPC Sawgrass. That’s right, even with the nagging back injury and a new bag of equipment – not to mention a new wedding – McIlroy made the cut. He said playing in the heat has helped keep the area loose, but it’s been an issue.
“Look, it’s in the same area as what the injury was at the start of the year, I said over there, if that injury was an eight or a nine in terms of pain and soreness and stiffness, this is around a four or five,” said McIlroy, who sat out two months earlier this year. “So it’s, it might just be a flare-up of what happened previously and I just need to rest for a few days and it might be OK. Hopefully that’s what it shows in the scan next week.”
The marquee grouping of McIlroy, world No.1 Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas all finished at even par after two days.
McIlroy plans to fly back to Belfast on Monday to have the scan. Despite the injury, he seemed in good spirits.
“I should be sponsored by Advil at this point,” he joked.
