RORY’S SCARE
Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy stunned the golf world by revealing he’s been dealing with “an irregularity with my heart.”
McIlroy made the admission in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph.
“I suffered a really bad viral infection in China 18 months ago and they told me that’s the reason that I have this thickening of my left ventricle,” the golf star told the newspaper, “and there’s a bit of scar tissue. For now, I just need to stay on top of it and have to stay fit.”
McIlroy, 28, who was winless during an injury-plagued season last year, said he will have to undergo an echo cardiogram every six months and then an MRI scan every year.
The Irish golf champ, who will return to action next week at the Adu Dhabi Championship, has taken the past four months off to deal with a rib injury.
“The rib’s fine, no problems whatsoever — I had an MRI scan on my thoracic spine and all was OK,” McIlroy said.
That’s when he dropped the bombshell news.
“But I’ve got a bit of an irregularity with my heart that I have to keep on top of.”
McIlroy, who won the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in 2014, enters the new season ranked No. 11 in the world. It’s his lowest ranking to start a season this decade.
“It’s nice to be world No. 1, sure, and I will get back there, but it’s all about winning tournaments,” he added. “And I will give myself the best chances this season.”
McIlroy suffered the rib injury early in the 2017 campaign and admitted to The Telegraph that he shouldn’t have played the U.S. Open.
“I got injured at the Players and should have said, ‘yeah, I’ll miss a major,’ because I was only there to get by and you can’t win a major by ‘getting by.’”