Rory McIlroy will weigh up whether to play another event before the Masters after he came through four rounds at the Players Championship with no further damage to his back.
A back twinge caused McIlroy to withdraw at the halfway point of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and not play a practice round before competing at TPC Sawgrass. The centre of attention pre tournament, the defending champion ended the week on level-par after a 71 for a meagre 51st place.
McIlroy will practice at home in Florida before deciding on whether to play one of the two Texas events before he defends his Masters title at Augusta National next month.
“I haven’t really made a decision either way. I’ll see how my body feels. We’ll see how I feel in practice and at home and if I get itchy feet at home maybe add an event at some point,” said McIlroy who is 50/50 for a TGL appearance on Tuesday.
“I feel like it was important to make the weekend here and play an extra couple of days. But yeah, really just see how the next week goes, see how once I get back to actually a full practice schedule and in the gym and stuff like that, see how my body reacts to that, and then I’ll see.”
As for the week at hand, the five-time major champion has a mixed record at the Players with no top-10 finishes since 2015 outside of his two victories so he is not taking too much notice of his performance heading into the Masters believing that Sawgrass isn’t a great indicator of where his game is at.
“Sometimes you feel like it tells you stuff, and then other times it sort of doesn’t. I’ve had bad results here and went on to have a good season, and I’ve had good results here, and the two really good results here I’ve went on to have good seasons. It’s a decent litmus test. I don’t think it’s the best in terms of you telling where your game is at. It can get a little funky if you hit it in some spots.
“But yeah, I would say you have to be really on to shoot scores here. I guess it tells you a lot about that. I feel like I hit the ball well the last three days. I didn’t get a lot out of it. But I do feel like I saw some good signs even though the scores didn’t quite reflect it.
“Maybe some of the approach shots, some of the visuals off the tee. Around the greens is completely different. You’re hacking out of five-inch rough around here and you’re getting these awkward lies because of the moguls and the Pete Dye bunkers. Around the greens is not very similar. But maybe some approach shots and visuals off tees.”
McIlroy ranks 4th in strokes gained off the tee but 72nd in putting and his final round was another mixed bag as he carded double bogeys on the first and thirteenth with birdies coming on 5, 7, 12 – where he drove the 373-yard green – and 16.
“Yeah, happy I got through four days and my body feels good. I feel like my game sort of progressively got a little bit better as the week went on, even though the scores probably didn’t reflect it over the weekend. I hit the ball well. I just didn’t make anything on the greens.
“Happy to come through four rounds and feel like my body held up well. A couple little things to work on, but overall, not the week that I wanted. Just trying to take the positives.”
Leave a comment