McIlroy in race against time to play the US Open

RORY McILROY is running out of time to be fit for the US Open which will be played at Erin Hills, Wisconsin from June 15-18.

Last night, Golf Digest in the USA reported that McIlroy has opted out of the Memorial Tournament next week.

This follows his absence from the BMW PGA Championship currently being played at Wentworth, and raises further questions about his fitness following a recurrence of the rib injury that kept him out of action for two months earlier in the year.

Golf Digest quoted McIlroy’s manager, Sean O’Flaherty, as telling them via email that “all focus is on getting back to full health for the US Open”.

With just 19 days to do before the second major of the season gets under way, McIlroy (right) clearly has concerns about getting himself to a peak of readiness for the championship.

Last year the fourtime Major champion missed the cut in the US Open at Oakmont, and also at the US PGA Championship at Baltusrol.

In between he got to a tied-5 spot in the Open Championship at Troon but did not threaten to win the Claret Jug for the first time since his 2014 success at Hoylake. This year McIlroy targeted the Masters in a bid to complete the career Grand Slam of major titles, only to suffer a rib stress fracture at the SA Open in January. His next appearance was in the WGC-Mexico Championship, but he came into the Masters short of competitive sharpness and finished tied-7.

McIlroy suffered an aggravation of the rib problem at The Players Championship and is taking “a conservative approach” to recovery.