With the PGA Championship just seven days away, a last-minute injury scare is the last thing any player wants. Rory McIlroy was spotted limping during the final round of the $20M Truist Championship at Quail Hollow Club on Sunday. Speaking to the media afterward, the two-time Masters winner quickly addressed the concern.
“Yeah, I’ve got a blister on my pinky toe on my right foot,” he said to the media. “But it’s underneath my nail, so I can’t really get to it. It’s a little sore, but I’ll be all right.”
McIlroy first noticed the blister on Friday afternoon. Since it formed underneath the toenail, it is harder to manage than a normal blister. The pressure stays trapped and gets worse with every step, and it cannot simply be drained or padded like a regular one. Add many rounds of walking several miles each day, and it becomes significantly uncomfortable.
Friday itself had already been a rollercoaster for McIlroy. He opened with a 70 on Thursday before fighting his way back into contention on Friday with a 67. He made five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine alone. But the blister remained through all of it, and by Saturday, it had worsened, and the discomfort was reflected in his performance.
McIlroy shot a 75, making four consecutive bogeys from the 10th to the 13th and falling out of contention. Still, the Northern Irishman was quick to dismiss any suggestion that the injury affected his play on Saturday.
“I wish that were an excuse,” he said. “But absolutely not.”
With the PGA Championship in a week, this will not be the first time McIlroy will arrive at a major championship dealing with something physical. Earlier this year, a stubborn back injury forced him to withdraw from the Arnold Palmer Invitational. There were real doubts about whether he would be ready for the Masters Tournament, but he returned in time and ended up winning his second green jacket.
Back in 2015, things were even more complicated. Just 10 days before defending his title at the Open Championship at St Andrews Links, McIlroy ruptured an ankle ligament while playing football with friends. The injury forced him to miss the tournament entirely, making him the first reigning Open champion to skip the event since Ben Hogan in 1954.
For now, McIlroy’s blister will heal, and he will head to Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia, chasing his third PGA Championship title after previous wins in 2012 and 2014. As part of his build-up to the second major of the season, he is also expected to spend time on the course beforehand doing reconnaissance work, studying the greens, and mapping out tee-shot lines.
What’s next for Rory McIlroy?
This week was only his fifth time in 15 appearances at Quail Hollow Club that he failed to record a top-10 finish at a venue Jordan Spieth once famously called “Rory McIlroy Country Club.”
His driving remained world-class throughout the week. McIlroy led the field in driving distance and gained more than four strokes off the tee. But the problems began from the fairway inward. He ranked near the bottom of the field in strokes gained on approach and struggled badly on and around the greens.
Saturday, in particular, exposed those issues. McIlroy ranked last in the field in strokes gained around the green, losing 3.46 shots in that category alone. Heading into a major championship, that kind of short-game collapse is difficult to ignore.
The concern is even more significant because McIlroy himself credited his short game as one of the biggest reasons behind his Masters Tournament victories. With the Aronimink Golf Club expected to demand precision in tight green complexes, McIlroy’s short game and putting will need to be significantly sharper than they were this week.
He does have a positive history on the course. In the opening round of the 2018 BMW Championship at Aronimink, McIlroy shot an 8-under 62, matching the existing course record. He went on to finish fifth in the tournament.
Now, with four days remaining before the PGA Championship begins, the question is whether all parts of McIlroy’s game can come together at exactly the right time.
