Rory McIlroy is still here.
Two rounds of golf after not being able to move because of spasms and seizure in his right side, the defending FedEx Cup champion gutted his way around East Lake Golf Club in the second round of the Tour Championship on Friday.
“I’m happy to be through 36 holes,” McIlroy said after a round of 3-under-par 67.
McIlroy is now 10 under in the staggered scoring event. That’s good enough for seventh place, where he stood yesterday after an even par round. He ends the second round six strokes off the lead, held by Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa at 16 under. His deficit behind the leaders, however, doubled despite his better round. He trailed Morikawa, Hovland and Keegan Bradley by three strokes after the first round.
“I felt like I had a little more speed,” McIlroy said. “I was probably half a club off my numbers than maybe a full club (Thursday). It’s just hard to sort of get my right side through the ball. It actually feels better with the longer clubs because I’m more upright in my posture. When I sort of get down to the shorter stuff, trying to stay in my posture is a struggle.
“So I’m sort of just coming out of it and swinging my arms at it, and I’m missing a lot of iron shots left. But, yeah, just trying to manage it and do the best I can.”
McIlroy’s right side tightened Tuesday, and his lower back seized Wednesday. Just a day away from starting the Tour Championship, he said he couldn’t move.
A three-time FedEx Cup champion, McIlroy said the pain and limited motion prevents him from moving the ball from left to right. He said with his irons, from the top of his swing his throwing his arms through the ball. He said he can’t hit his driver, the biggest weapon in his bag, the way he wants. He is teeing the ball lower and hitting a flatter shot.
McIlroy still has distance. He drove the ball an average of 315.9 yards in the first round, second best in the field. He drove it 311.4 yards in the second round, fourth best in the field. Here is the issue. On both days, he hit only seven of 14 fairways. That doesn’t work around East Lake.
McIlory appeared to have kinesiology tape on his side during the round.
Giving up, even with the Ryder Cup a month away, was not an option. McIlroy said he is more worried about developing bad habits while playing though the pain than further injuring his right side.
“I still wanted to give it a go,” McIlroy said. “As I said, I felt like if I could get through (Thursday) I was just hoping that each day it would get progressively better. I would say it got a touch better today in terms of being able to just put a little bit more speed into the swing. Still limited what I could do. But I played yesterday – it certainly doesn’t feel any worse today, so at least I know I’m not doing any damage or I don’t necessarily think that by me playing it’s going to get worse. It’s just a matter of doing the right things away from the golf course to make sure that it gradually gets a little better.”
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