Rory McIlroy said he’d talk later. And that’s what you wanted to hear, should you be wondering how his back was holding up, or concerned whether it would slow him in his title defense at this week’s Players Championship, or worried whether it would be problematic a month from now at the Masters, where he won last year, too.
McIlroy’s response came as he was walking up TPC Sawgrass’ 9th hole, his 18th hole during Friday’s second round of the Players. He said NBC’s well-respected on-course analyst, Jim “Bones” Mackay, had approached him and asked what his next few weeks would look like.
“And I said, Bones, I’ll tell you after this hole,” McIlroy said after the round.
“There’s a lot riding on this golf hole.”
To that point, his play had been fair. A couple birdies. A couple bogeys. That had followed a two-over 74 in the first round, and that had preceded doubt, after he tweaked his back a week earlier at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, then didn’t arrive in Ponte Vedra, Fla., until Wednesday afternoon. But he was still grinding. And that likely stopped the teeth gnashing from the McIlroy faithful.
Then they may have screamed. Needing birdie on the par-5 to slip past the projected cut line, he made a birdie four. McIlroy’s play was sublime. A tee ball that traveled 310 yards and finished on the left side of the fairway. A 280-yard second that finished on the green. Two putts.
“Yeah, it would have sucked to be going home this afternoon,” McIlroy said, “so to hang around and hopefully play two more days, that’s a win.”
At the least, his back will see more swings, and kinks will be worked out. On Thursday, tee shots felt fine, he said, while chipping was tender. With the latter, he said he stands more upright, and the sensitivity was lessened. “It’s more when I get over it. So chipping yesterday or like when the ball was below my feet is when I — not that I felt it, but it was more — it was OK. It was just like I had a hard time trusting it, more so than anything else.”
Friday was better, though.
“I think having a day,” McIlroy said, “where I was like, OK, that was fine, I didn’t really feel anything, I woke up this morning felt fine, so, yeah.”
There’s now a chance to play 36 more holes, too. McIlroy said he felt he played well on Friday — but “I just couldn’t get a putt to drop.” Had he been done — and to answer Mackay’s question — he said he likely would have played another event before the Masters next month.
“I’m happy to be here for the weekend,” McIlroy said.
“I’m happy to get two more runs at it.”
