I NEED A BREAK TO MASTER THIS
US PGA LATEST FROM QUAIL HOLLOW Rory could sit out rest of the season
RORY McILROY admits he’s considering skipping the rest of the season to heal a nagging injury and get fit for a fresh crack at the career Grand Slam.
The world No.4 spent almost two months out after suffering a stress fracture of a rib in January.
And following a three-under 68 in his final round at the US PGA, the 28-year-old revealed a back muscle was “going into spasm” while he was suffering pain in his arm.
With the Majors finished for the year, McIlroy said his priority is the Masters next April where he will bid to become only the sixth player to win the four biggest prizes in golf.
That would see the Northern Irishman miss the lucrative end of season events in the FedEx Cup – in which he won two tournaments as well as the £7.7million first prize last year – plus the Race to Dubai.
He said: “I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s just bugging me at the moment and has been for some time. You might not see me until next year.
“You might see me in a couple of weeks’ time. It really depends. I have a good bit of time to get healthy and address a few things going forward.
“I know there is a big part of the year left but we really don’t have a big one until April so that is what I am going to try to concentrate on.
“I have upped my practice coming into these two events because I wanted to feel like I was in a good place in my game.
“Right now it’s a tough one because I go out there and shoot decent scores but when I come off the course I feel my left rhomboid going into spasm – inside of my left arm goes numb. It has been hurting every time I swing and that is why you have seen me hitting big draws all week just to protect this side of my body.”
McIlroy will weigh up his options this week after flying back to Northern Ireland to talk to physio Steve McGregor. But he said: “The more I play, it’s just not allowing that time to heal 100 per cent. An injury like this, it’s eight full weeks of rest before you start to rehab it and then go again.
“I felt like we took as much time as we needed to at the start of the year – that was basically seven or eight weeks. I got back playing and it felt okay through the Masters.
“I switched it off for a couple of weeks because I was getting married and going on honeymoon.
“Then once I started practising again I didn’t build up the volume gradually. I went from zero to hitting balls for three or four hours a day. That aggravated it a little bit.
“I just haven’t allowed it the time to fully heal – I wanted to play the season. I feel like I’m capable of playing well, winning and putting rounds together. But if I want to challenge on a more consistent basis I need to get 100 per cent healthy.”
Tennis stars Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal took long injury breaks last year then returned to dominate this season’s Grand Slams.
However McIlroy added: “I feel like a sense of – not duty ... but I’ve missed a lot of time already. If I’m capable of playing I feel like, ‘Why shouldn’t you?’. But then at the same time if you are not capable of playing at your best, why should you play? So again it’s a catch 22.”