"Still quite a lot of golf to play" - Rory McIlroy confident his back injury won't derail his Ryder Cup and Horizon Irish Open preparations 

Rory McIlroy says he is confident that his injury setback won't divert his preparations for the upcoming Horizon Irish Open and Ryder Cup and the run-up to the Ryder Cup.

Amidst the injury struggles, McIlroy carded a 1-over 71 on Saturday, August 26 in the third round of the 2023 Tour Championship to aggregate at 11-under, nine strokes off the lead.

The 34-year-old Northern Irishman suffered from a back spasm before the first round of the Tour Championship. However, he feels it will not be a hindrance in his preparations for the Ryder Cup, adding that he wouldn't try to rush it.

He was quoted as saying via the Irish Independent:

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

The three-time FedEx Cup winner added that he was planning to finish the tournament and the PGA Tour season with a good score on Sunday.

He was quoted as saying via Sky Sports:

"Still quite a lot of golf to play," he said. "So you know, get through tomorrow and hopefully finish off the tournament and the PGA Tour season with a good score."

McIlroy further stated that he would focus on rehab during the next week to get back in better condition in order to be ready for the Irish Open, the BMW PGA Championship, and then the Ryder Cup.

He continued:

"So not too concerned that it's going give me any bother for the next few weeks. I'm glad that it started to settle down. 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."

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When will Rory McIlroy resume playing on Sunday, August 27?

Rory McIlroy during the third round of the 2023 Tour Championship Golf

The four-time major champion is currently joint eighth in the Tour Championship after 54 holes. He will tee off on Sunday, August 27 at 12:56 p.m. ET with Adam Schenk.

Viktor Hovland shot 4-under 66 on Saturday to aggregate at 20-under and has a six-shot lead after three rounds. Xander Schauffele shot a 2-under 68 in the third round and sits second at 14-under. The duo will tee off at 1:40 pm on Sunday.

Here are the complete tee time details for the final round of the 2023 Tour Championship:

• 10:56 am: Emiliano Grillo, Taylor Moore
• 11:07 am: Jordan Spieth, Jason Day
• 11:18 am: Si Woo Kim, Sungjae Im
• 11:29 am: Tony Finau, Tom Kim
• 11:40 am: Rickie Fowler, Nick Taylor
• 11:56 am: Corey Conners, Russell Henley
• 12:07 pm: Tyrrell Hatton, Brian Harman
• 12:18 pm: Lucas Glover, Sam Burns
• 12:29 pm: Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood
• 12:40 pm: Sepp Straka, Max Homa
• 12:56 pm: Adam Schenk, Rory McIlroy
• 1:07 pm: Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay
• 1:18 pm: Wyndham Clark, Jon Rahm
• 1:29 pm: Keegan Bradley, Collin Morikawa
• 1:40 pm: Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele