Rory McIlroy‘s participation in the Players Championship is uncertain after he said his back injury is being “more stubborn than we thought”.
The world number two, who was forced to withdraw from the Arnold Palmer Invitational before the third round on Saturday after sustaining a back injury which caused muscle spasms on his warm-up, remains in the Players Championship field for nowand has been undergoing intensive physiotherapy.
“The back is being a bit more stubborn than we thought, so I’m staying at home today and tomorrow to continue treatment in South Florida with the hope to travel to Ponte Vedra on Wednesday at some point,” he said.
It comes as Séamus Power has benefited from Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour, after the Waterford man – who had been second reserve for The Players – was added along with Patton Kizzire to the field for the $25 million flagship tournament at TPC Sawgrass.
Originally set at 120 players, Koepka’s addition meant, under the PGA Tour’s Returning Member Program, that two more players had to be added to bring the number to 123 to facilitate rules staff to schedule 41 threesomes in the first two rounds, a move that has worked to Power’s benefit in this case.
Power, who missed the cut in the Puerto Rico Open last week, lost his full tour card last season and consequently has had limited opportunities with his status. A two-time winner on the PGA Tour, Power has returned some decent results (including a tied-11th finish in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torey Pines) to currently sit 88th on the latest FedEx Cup standings. However, the important number was that Power was 78th through the Cognizant Classic, which was the criteria used for his alternate spot and ensured he got the last place in the field through the Koepka rule.
His addition to the field, confirmed by the PGA Tour on Monday, will give Power a sixth start in the flagship event although he has traditionally struggled with a best finish of tied-33rd in 2022. He missed the cut last year, when McIlroy claimed a second Players title.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland lines up a putt on the second hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Photograph: Orlando Ramirez/Getty
Shane Lowry is the third Irish player in the field and will be looking to bounce back from a missed cut in the Arnold Palmer Invitational where a closing bogey in his second round saw him fail to make it to the weekend in a tournament won by Akshay Bhatia.
Lowry is playing for a fifth straight week with that missed cut at Bay Hill coming on the back of his late collapse in the Cognizant Classic where two late double-bogeys saw him relinquish a three shots lead through 15 holes to ultimately finish runner-up to Nico Echavarria. Lowry’s missed cut in Bay Hill saw him drop two places in the world rankings from 27th to 29th.
Fourteen players in the field are making their tournament debut: Zach Bauchou, Michael Brennan, Pierceson Coody, Zecheng Dou, AJ Ewart, Steven Fisk, Takumi Kanaya, Johnny Keefer, William Mouw, Marco Penge, Kristoffer Reitan, Jordan Smith, Michael Thorbjornsen, Sudarshan Yellamaraju.
Meanwhile, there are three Irish players – Áine Donegan, Anna Foster and Annabel Wilson – competing in the Australian Open, which is back as part of the Ladies European Tour schedule for the first time since 2016, at Kooyonga Golf Club in Adelaide.
Donegan is one of 14 rookies in the field, the Clarewoman having made a strong start to her professional career and currently positioned 27th on the LET order of merit.
Unfortunately, Sara Byrne, who sustained an injury during a gym session, remains sidelined from the Aussie swing of events.