Rory McIlroy Finishes Four Rounds at Players Championship But Unsure What’s Next

The world No. 2 came into the week with back pain but played through it, he said he will wait and see about playing again before his Masters title defense.

Rory McIlroy shot 71 in his final round at TPC Sawgrass. | Jeff Romance-Imagn Images

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The title defense never really got on track. Not when Rory McIlroy didn’t even arrive until Wednesday. And wasn’t quite sure he would play until the first round began on Thursday afternoon.

A year after winning the Players Championship in a playoff over J.J. Spaun, McIlroy never shot in the 70s and was never really in contention.

He teed off early Sunday, double bogeyed his first hole, rebounded to make five birdies but could manage just a final-round 71 that had him hovering around 50th place.

It wasn’t what he would have wanted. But a week ago he withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a back issue and now he’s got some decisions to make about how he will prepare for his Masters defense.

“I’ll see,” McIlroy said after the final round at TPC Sawgrass. “I haven’t really made a decision either way. I’ll see how my body feels. We’ll see how I feel in practice and at home and if I get itchy feet at home, maybe add an event at some point.

“I feel like it was important to make the weekend here and play an extra couple of days. But yeah, really just see how the next week goes, see how once I get back to actually a full practice schedule and in the gym and stuff like that, see how my body reacts to that, and then I’ll see.”

McIlroy is not in the field for this week’s Valspar Championship. (He didn’t commit to playing Tuesday night at the TGL indoor competition where his team is in the league semifinals.)

Last year, McIlroy played the Texas Children’s Hospital Open in Houston, where he tied for fifth two weeks prior to the Masters. He could also enter the Texas Valero Open the week prior to the Masters.

“Happy I got through four days and my body feels good,” McIlroy said. “I feel like my game sort of progressively got a little bit better as the week went on, even though the scores probably didn’t reflect it over the weekend. I hit the ball well. I just didn't make anything on the greens.

“Happy to come through four rounds and feel like my body held up well. A couple little things to work on, but overall, not the week that I wanted. Just trying to take the positives.”

As for what the Players Championship portends for the year, McIlroy said it is mixed.

“Sometimes you feel like it tells you stuff, and then other times it sort of doesn’t,” he said. “I’ve had bad results here and went on to have a good season, and I’ve had good results here, and the two really good results here I’ve went on to have good seasons. It’s a decent litmus test. I don’t think it’s the best in terms of you telling where your game is at. It can get a little funky if you hit it in some spots.

“But I would say you have to be really on to shoot scores here. I guess it tells you a lot about that. I feel like I hit the ball well the last three days. I didn’t get a lot out of it. But I do feel like I saw some good signs even though the scores didn’t quite reflect it.”