“I was at the bottom of a squat” - Rory McIlroy explains pain-staking back injury that caused him discomfort at the Tour Championship

Rory McIlroy teed off at the 2023 Tour Championship in discomfort caused by a lower back injury. The 34-year-old Irishman chose against withdrawing from the last leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and played a respectable round on Thursday. McIlroy, who sat T7 on the leaderboard at East Lake has now come out to reveal that he sustained the injury at home.

The PGA Tour superstar did not mention anything about his injury during the press conference on Thursday. The golfer teed it up alongside Jon Rahm in the second-to-last pairing and it was evident pain. After his round, McIlroy revealed that he injured himself while working out. The golfer stated that he “was at the bottom of a squat” when his lower back spasmed and seized up.

Explaining his injury at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Rory McIlroy said, as quoted by Golfweek:

“I was at the bottom of a squat, a body-weight squat, and my whole lower back spasmed, seized up. I couldn’t move. So, to get to where I am today is good.”

McIlroy carded a gritty round of even-par 70 at East Lake in the first round of the Tour Championship on Thursday. Despite his injury, the 34-year-old looks determined to continue play at the final playoff event and attempt to defend his FedEx Cup champion title.

The golfer further addressed the gravity of his injury. The golfer even claimed to be “over the moon” to not lose any ground.

He added:

“The muscle spasm is what’s giving me the discomfort. I think when I play a lot of golf, especially the end of the season, I always have to manage my right side. My right side always gets pretty tight, my rib cage, intercostals, lats, like, all the way down, right hip.”

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When did Rory McIlroy get injured?

It is noteworthy that the muscle spasm began bothering McIlroy earlier in the week. The ace golfer revealed that he felt discomfort as early as on Tuesday morning.

Rory McIlroy said, as quoted by Golfweek:

“I went to grab something and my whole right side just completely seized up, spasm. So I spent two hours with the physio at home, flew up here, felt a little better, some treatment, then Wednesday morning still my right side was feeling better, and then went into the gym just to do some movements and stuff.

I felt OK, so then just thought I would give it a go. I was always going to tee off. It was just a matter of how I felt on the course. And it got progressively a little tighter as I went, but it will hopefully get loosened up here and just another 18 hours of recovery and go again tomorrow.”

It is pertinent to note that the injury seems to have limited Rory McIlroy’s swinging by a bit. The golfer didn’t seem to be swinging full tilt. However, he still managed to outdrive several big names on the field, including Jon Rahm at the first hole. It’ll be interesting to see how the golfer fares on Day 2 of the Tour Championship.