Rory McIlroy will give himself every chance to be fit for his round one tee time at the Players Championship but doesn’t believe his back injury can get worse before the Masters regardless of whether he plays or not.
McIlroy arrived at TPC Sawgrass for the first time just after midday local time on Wednesday and hit balls on the range although he was regularly stretching in between shots.
The Masters champion withdrew prior to round three of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill which put the defence his Players title in doubt.
He addressed the media before walking out for nine holes – which will be the height of his practice as he tries to maximise recovery time.
“I’ve got about, I don’t know, is it 20 hours until I tee off, or until I’m supposed to tee off tomorrow,” he said.
“So, yeah, we’ll see. I’m taking it sort of hour by hour. But it feels better.
“That’s all I can say. 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.
“So yeah, probably a game-time decision, but all indications are pointing in the right direction, so hopefully good night tonight.
“The drugs are working wonders, and then just keep it going from there.”
McIlroy, if fully fit, will bid to join Jack Nicklaus in winning the Players for a third time having won it last year and in 2019.
However, bigger fish are to fry at the Masters next month as he defends his Green Jacket but he insists he cannot further aggravate his back niggle.
“It’s not structural, it’s not joint, it’s fine,” he said. “It’s purely muscular sort of discomfort and fatigue. Obviously, I’ll listen to the professionals.
“But there’s nothing that I can do that’s going to harm that.
“Like what triggered this, it was a hinge pattern in the gym, and I just overextended a little bit this way, but even doing this now is way easier, and I couldn’t do that a couple of days ago.
“So 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.”
“I’ve been playing here since 2009, so it’s not like I don’t know the place,” he said with a grin.
“We’re going to go walk nine holes now with a wedge and a putter just so I can get a feel for the rough around the greens and how firm the greens are.
“It seems like a pretty different set-up this year than what it’s been in previous years in March.
“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.”
Leave a comment