Rory McIlroy withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday due to muscle spasms in his back. While he initially planned to appear in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on Tuesday to begin his title defense at The Players Championship, ongoing back issues have delayed his arrival to TPC Sawgrass and put his status for the tournament in question.
“The back is being a bit more stubborn than we thought,” McIlroy told Golf Channel on Monday, “so I’m staying at home today and tomorrow to continue treatment in South Florida with the hope to travel to Ponte Vedra on Wednesday at some point.”
It was revealed Tuesday that McIlroy plans to arrive on Wednesday as scheduled; however, as he has not hit any balls since suffering his injury, he is unlikely to play in a practice round before beginning his first round at 1:42 p.m. ET on Thursday, according to Golf Channel.
McIlroy was originally scheduled to hold a 7:45 a.m. ET press conference on Wednesday. However, that media event is unlikely to happen even if he does arrive on time. The use of “hope” in McIlroy’s statement from Monday raises concern about whether he’ll be able to play come Thursday.
The injury sprang up while McIlroy was preparing to play his third round at Bay Hill. After trying to loosen his back, he was unable to get full cooperation and pulled out of the tournament about half an hour before his tee time.
McIlroy said he probably could have tried to play through it; however, he did not want to risk making it worse before a critical stretch of the season, particularly with him trying to defend his championships at The Players and the Masters over the next month.
Now, McIlroy will be arriving late to TPC Sawgrass, and while he will not play a practice round, he may get a bit of on-course work in before his Thursday tee time.
The silver lining is that McIlroy, a two-time winner at The Players, won’t need much practice to get comfortable with the golf course, given his familiarity. However, it’s far from ideal to come into an event with lingering back issues and few reps in preparation for a test as exacting as TPC Sawgrass.
McIlroy is still the second-ranked favorite to win The Players at 13-1, per DraftKings.