Rory McIlroy May Shut It Down To Heal Rib Injury
Rory McIlroy has now gone three years since his last major win. In that time, he’s switched equipment several times, got married, changed management firms and dealt with some nagging injuries.
His latest rib pain may motivate him to shut it down for the remainder of the year. What’s interesting is his driving distance/Shots-Gained Off The Tee is still formidable (2nd and 1st at the PGA) but his putting is mighty suspect (SG-Putting 69th).
‘There’s a lot to be said for what Roger Federer did in tennis,’ said one of his inner circle, referring to the five months the Swiss legend took off to get fit before coming back to win the Australian Open in January.
‘As I’m talking to you I can feel my left rhomboid (upper back muscle) going into spasm, and the inside of my left arm going numb,’ said the 28-year-old. ‘I have upped my practice coming into the last two events because I wanted to feel in a good place about my game.
‘Similarly, I haven’t talked to anyone about it the last couple of weeks because I wanted my head where it needed to be to focus on this event.
‘So right now, to be perfectly honest, I don’t know what to do. You might not see me now until next year. You might see me in a fortnight at the FedEx Cup. What I do know is that if I want to challenge on a consistent basis, I need to get 100 per cent healthy.’
McIlroy suffered the original injury at an intensive boot camp in January as he prepared for the new campaign. He played on at his first event, the South African Open, with his ribs strapped up.
‘I just feel in a catch-22 situation right now,’ he said. ‘I feel I am capable of playing and feel a sense of duty to play because I’ve missed a lot of time already. But then, at the same time, if you are not capable of playing at your best, why should you play?
‘I just haven’t allowed it the time to fully heal. I wanted to play the season. But it’s tough to struggle for another year in the majors. I want to get back into that winner’s circle. Teeing off on Sunday in the final round at 9.45am is not where you want to be. So, from now until next April and the Masters, my focus is to get healthy and address a few things.’
David Duval added his thoughts from personal experience.
“He needs to go home. He needs to stop playing right now. He’s hurt and I am watching his golf swing deteriorate,” he said. “If only I could go back and tell myself 18-20 years go when I started having those problems, ‘Stop, get healthy.’ He could do himself a big service. He’s always had a little bit of a hitch with the driver in terms of flattening out a little but it is getting a lot more pronounced right now and I think that is due to that rib injury.”
Realizing that Rory is trying to keep his sponsors etc happy, it makes sense to shut down his season. He won the FedEx Cup last year and is all about tacking on more major wins. Get healthy and quit following Tiger Woods’ failed regime of ridiculously strenuous workout programs.
