Rory McIlroy has revealed that he won’t be on site at TPC Sawgrass for the Players Championship until Wednesday as he recovers from a back injury at home.
McIlroy withdrew prior to the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill as a precaution but he has now confirmed that he will not play a practice round ahead of his Players Championship title defence on Monday or Tuesday at the very least.
The Masters champion is scheduled to do a pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday and that is the earliest that fans will get a glimpse of McIlroy in Ponte Vedra.
McIlroy texted Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis during Monday’s early “Live From The Players,” which Lewis read on-air as follows:
“The back is being a bit more stubborn than we thought, 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.”
Irish numbers have at least been boosted for now with the news that Séamus Power has been drafted in from the reserve list with Patton Kizzire as he joins Shane Lowry in the field.
Power has benefited from Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA TOUR as the $25m field was increased from the original 120 players to 121.
The West Waterford man missed the cut at the Puerto Rico Open last week and that looked to have ended his hopes of qualifying for the dubbed ‘fifth major.’
Power had been in good form previously having finished 11th at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines before his chances at the Cognizant fizzled out over the weekend a fortnight ago.
Power missed the cut at the Players Championship last year and has missed out on weekend golf twice in four starts at Sawgrass with finishes of T64 and T33 in his other two appearances.
Despite his indifferent record, this week presents a huge opportunity for Power to secure crucial FedEx Cup points and climb up the world rankings.
Power currently ranks at 157 in the world and 88th in the FedEx Cup.
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