“I'm going to be in a good spot for the next few weeks”: Rory McIlroy provides an update on his injury

Rory McIlroy suffered a lower back injury in the days leading up to the TOUR Championship. The Northern Irishman said he has no plans to withdraw from East Lake, let alone the commitments ahead of him.

After his 1-over round on Saturday, McIlroy spoke to the press about his health situation. He explained the discomfort he is suffering, although he is already feeling better.

Rory McIlroy treating his lower back pain right at the course of the 2023 Tour Championship (Image via Getty).

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said:

“I certainly feel better today [on Saturday] than I felt the rest of the week. Still a little limited in what I can do. I have to hit the driver pretty low out there, but I felt like I retained my posture a little bit better, which was great. My score didn’t reflect it, but yeah, feeling better, which is a good sign."

He added:

"It’s a shame that it happened this week and I haven't really been able to get the best out of myself, but I'm pretty confident that I'm going to be in a good spot for the next few weeks. I'm obviously not going to rush it but hopefully by the end of next week, the weekend going into the Irish Open, I'll be back to feeling 100%.”

The 34-year-old also stated that he will not miss three very important commitments for him in the coming weeks, the Irish Open, the BMW PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup:

"Get through tomorrow (Sunday) and hopefully finish off the tournament and the PGA Tour season with a good score and then I guess, next week, we'll just be focused on getting myself right, ready to go for the Irish Open, then Wentworth and then, obviously, we've got another week and then the Ryder Cup."

Rory McIlroy teed off Sunday at the TOUR Championship at the scheduled time. At the time of writing, he is on an even score for the round, with a bogey and a birdie.

How has Rory McIlroy's health been during his professional career?

It is not the first time that Rory McIlroy has suffered from lower back problems. In fact, the lower back is one of the areas that has given the golfer the most concern when it comes to his health as a professional athlete.

Rory McIlroy, 2023 Tour Championship (Image via Getty).

McIlroy has had a fairly healthy career, as he has only had three major health events that have affected him.

The first was a lower back injury that kept him away from top-level competition for a few weeks. Specifically, it was in the months of June and July 2010, when McIlroy was only 20 years old.

The healing and rehabilitation process of this injury revealed Rory McIlroy's second health problem: an inadequate diet. Although it was not an obstacle to his immediate performance, it could affect him in the long term.

From that point on, Rory McIlroy established an eating regimen more in line with the demands of high-performance sport. However, it is a problem he has had to deal with throughout his career, as he has sometimes had trouble following his diet to the letter.

The third health event occurred in 2016, when McIlroy contracted a virus that affected his heart. The disease caused him to lose tissue thickness in the left ventricle of his heart, as well as a certain amount of scar tissue, causing a condition known medically as "Flat T-Wave."

The Northern Irishman has fully recovered from the heart infection, while the "Flat T-Wave" has not had any impact on his sporting life or general health. It is just something he must continue to monitor throughout his life.

More recently, in 2023, McIlRoy suffered a period of emotional leave after making the cut in The Masters Tournament. However, judging by his results after returning to competition, he recovered satisfactorily.

Finally, there have been rumors that McIlroy is diabetic, but there is no reliable information to indicate that this is true.