Good news for THE PLAYERS Championship. Rory McIlroy is improving, has hit balls again on Wednesday at TPC Sawgrass and all signs point to him playing in the tournament after the serious scare caused by his withdrawal last Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational due to lower back discomfort. Pending the final decision, the Northern Irishman sent a clearly optimistic message. More than optimistic, almost definitive.
“He’s better. He’s better than he was”, McIlroy said. “I couldn’t even get set over the ball on Saturday morning on the practice range, and obviously I’m better now than then”, he explained. The difference is so clear that he has been able to hit again with some normality. “I’ve hit balls up to a 6-iron and it went well”, he noted.
McIlroy did not want to count on it yet, but he made the situation very clear. “It will probably be a last-minute decision, but all indications are heading in the right direction, so I hope to have a good night. The medication is doing wonders and now it’s about keeping it that way”, he said. Translated: he doesn’t want to count his chickens yet, but it would be a big surprise not to see him this Thursday on the tee of the Stadium Course.
Since he withdrew at Bay Hill, his plan has been almost exclusively recovery. “Not much. I went straight by car from Orlando to the physiotherapist I work with in West Palm. I saw him at around five on Saturday afternoon. And, obviously, I’ve been seeing him every day. Gradually I’m regaining a bit more mobility”, he recounted. He has done hardly anything else. “I haven’t spent much time on my feet. I’ve had a lot of press conferences over the last two days”, he added.
The best sign is that McIlroy no longer talks about pain. He talks about sensitivity. And that changes the picture quite a lot. “I wouldn’t even call it pain; I’d say it’s more like sensitivity”, he explained. “Even when hitting balls a bit, I feel the surrounding muscles tire a little. The right adductor has started to feel a bit strained. But it’s fine; it’s normal. More sensitivity than pain”.
He was also very clear in explaining that this is not a structural injury nor an ailment that would put him at risk if he decides to compete. It cannot worsen. “It’s not structural, it’s not a joint issue, it’s fine. It’s pure muscular discomfort and fatigue”, he explained. And he finished: “I don’t think it’s something where, if I play, I’m at risk of hurting myself”.
The origin of the problem was in the gym. “It was a specific exercise where I overextended a little to one side”, he said, while making it clear that recovery is progressing positively. “Even doing this now is much easier, and a couple of days ago I couldn’t do it”.
Caution remains, of course, especially because he still hasn’t reached the point of hitting the driver. However, even on that he saw a favourable interpretation for Sawgrass. “The good thing is that you don’t need the driver much here, especially with how firm the course is”, he explained. He will test that directly in competition or a little earlier in the warm-up before the first round. “Obviously with the longer clubs it’s something I’ll have to try tomorrow. But, as I said, I’ve hit up to a 6-iron and it went well”.
In fact, McIlroy conveys the feeling that he is already in competition mode. Not improvisation mode, but fine-tuning mode. In fact, his next step was not going to be a long practice session, but to go out on the course to take concrete readings of the greens and the surrounding areas. “We’re going to walk nine holes with a wedge and a putter to get a feel for the rough around the greens and how firm the greens are”, he explained. It would be a huge surprise if he doesn’t play.
Furthermore, he made it clear that he doesn’t need to rediscover Sawgrass at this stage. “I’ve been playing here since 2009, so it’s not that I don’t know the place”, he said. The reconnaissance will be more sensory than tactical. “I prefer to do short game and putting on the course rather than on the practice area, to get a better feel for the shots you need”. The rest he has memorised. “The lines from the tee and the clubs from the tee I already know; it’s more about getting a feel for how the ball is reacting on the greens”.
McIlroy recalled a similar situation at the TOUR Championship de 2023. “I remember that on Thursday I had a lot of discomfort and I managed to complete the round, and on Sunday I felt like a new person”, he said. His hope is that something similar will happen this time. “I’d like to think that the sensitivity will decrease over time”.
He even had humour to sum up how the reunion with golf went. His first shot today. “Terrible. It was like a topped wedge. I was trying to play a 30-yard chip and the ball went about 100 yards”, he joked. But he immediately gave the important line: “Apart from that, it was fine”.
McIlroy’s appearance also left a small institutional note. The Northern Irishman spoke with Brian Rolapp for around an hour and is aware first-hand of the roadmap that the CEO of the PGA Tour presented this Wednesday about the future calendar and the restructuring of the circuit. Rory’s assessment was clearly favourable. “Yes, I think it’s all quite positive”, he said. And he added: “I think he has come into this position and realised how difficult it is to turn around such a big ship”. Even so, he liked the message. “What he said today sets a really good direction for where the Tour should go”.
