PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Defending champion Rory McIlroy said Wednesday he was a game-time decision for the Players Championship as he deals with a back issue but added “all indications are pointing in the right direction” for him to play Thursday.
“I’ve got about, I don’t know, is it 20 hours until I tee off. So, yeah, we’ll see. I’m taking it sort of hour by hour,” said McIlroy, who is scheduled to tee off at 1:42 p.m. ET. “Hopefully a good night tonight. The drugs are working wonders, and then just keep it going from there.”
McIlroy, who withdrew from the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday because of back spasms, did not show up to TPC Sawgrass until Wednesday afternoon. He spent about an hour hitting shots intermittently in a small back corner of the range as his caddie, agent and athletic trainer watched intently.
The five-time major winner hit up only to a 6-iron, he said later, and took breaks to stretch and walk around. According to McIlroy, what caused the injury was an overextension of a hinge pattern in the gym.
“It feels better. That’s all I can say,” McIlroy said. “Like I couldn’t stand to address the ball on Saturday morning on the range at Bay Hill, and it’s obviously better than that.”
McIlroy said once he withdrew from the API, he drove down to visit with his physio in West Palm Beach, Florida, and has been seeing him every day since, which has helped his back improve. The reigning Masters champion said he doesn’t have pain from swinging the club.
“I would say just more like sensitivity,” McIlroy said. “I’d like to think that the sensitivity will go down as time goes on. Like I had this [at the] Tour Championship in 2023, and I remember like Thursday I was in so much discomfort and, like, chipping it around and got through the round, and I remember on Sunday I felt like a whole new person. So I’m hoping that it starts to progress like that.”
He added that it’s not the back that’s flaring up but rather the muscles around the area and his hip flexors that are “a little tight and a little angry.”
One factor in McIlroy’s potential decision to play is that this is not a course he’s learning for the first time. He has won twice at TPC Sawgrass and has finished inside the top 25 seven times. Another is the fact that the golf course’s narrow corridors and tricky sightlines often take the driver out of the hands of some of the longest players. McIlroy is top 10 in driving distance so far this season.
“The nice thing is you don’t really need a driver around here that much, especially with how firm it is,” McIlroy said. “But, yeah, obviously getting into the longer clubs is something that I’m going to have to try to do tomorrow.”
After his abbreviated range session Wednesday, McIlroy walked the back nine with just a wedge and a putter trying to get a feel for some of Sawgrass’s greens and the surrounding rough as well as the difference in the way it has been set up this year.
“It seems like a pretty different setup this year than what it’s been in previous years in March,” he said. “So I would much rather do sort of short game and putting on the course rather than on the practice area, just get a better feel for the shots that you need.”
McIlroy said he has been told by experts that he cannot worsen or aggravate the injury.
“It’s not structural, it’s not joint, it’s fine. It’s purely muscular sort of discomfort and fatigue,” he said. “Things are getting better, but yeah, I don’t think it’s something where if I play I’m at risk of doing any damage.”
