McIlroy plays through pain barrier

Golf:Call it brave? Or, perhaps, call it foolish? Rory McIlroy's recovery shot from the root of an exposed tree early-on in his first round of the US PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club left him with a wrist injury and necessitated a post-round MRI scan to determine the full extent of the ailment.

“It was dangerous, yeah,” conceded McIlroy, who continued on with the aid of an ice pack, some on-course physiotherapy and strapping to somehow shoot a level-par 70. “I thought if I could make contact with the ball and just let the club go, I might get away with it. In hindsight, it would have been better to chip out sideways.”

McIlroy, who squirmed in pain on a number of subsequent shots after picking up the injury when playing a recovery shot on the third hole, explained afterwards that he felt he could execute the shot and let go of the club before impacting on the root of the tree. “I went through impact and held onto the club too long, jarred my right wrist and my right forearm. It was obviously very painful after that.”

The player will decide before his second round whether to play on. A spokesman for McIlroy’s management company said: “The initial diagnosis shows that Rory has strained a tendon in his right wrist. He will obviously rest it tonight and he will see how it feels in the morning on the range.”

He is due to tee off at 1.35pm (Irish time).

The 22-year-old Ulsterman – winner of the US Open title in record-breaking fashion at Congressional in June – explained that the impact of hitting the tree root caused “a sharp pain up the forearm” and resulted in swelling on the inside of his wrist.

McIlroy sought on-course advice from two different physiotherapists as to whether he should continue his first round. “They said, ‘it’s your decision, if you want to play on and you feel comfortable doing that, (do) but if not, there’s not point in risking it’. It’s the last Major of the year. I’ve got, what, six or seven months to the Masters. So I might as well try and play through the pain and get it over and done with,” explained McIlroy of his decision to continue playing.

“They reckon I’ve just caught the nerve in between the two bones, and every time I went through a shot, I was in a lot of pain. It’s just going through impact, it hurts a little bit.”

He added: “I finished with one hand (but) I hit some good shots. The only thing that let me down, I missed a couple of short putts. But (the injury) was always there in my mind. So, to shoot even par was a good effort . . . . if it’s the same tomorrow, and I know I am not going to do any more damage to it, I will play. There were a couple of points where I thought about not continuing but, as I said, it’s very important tournament and I’m still in the hunt.”

McIlroy’s opening 70 left him seven shots behind first round leader Steve Stricker, who became the 25th player in Major championship history to shoot a round of 63.

Second Round tee-times (Irish time, Irish in bold)

1st Hole

12.30Brad Lardon, Steve Marino, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp)
12.40Johan Edfors (Swe), Mike Small, Chris Kirk
12.50Anders Hansen (Den), Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Johnson Wagner
13.00Charley Hoffman, Brian Gay, Ryuji Imada (Jpn)
13.10Brandt Snedeker, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Esp), Robert Karlsson (Swe)
13.20Steve Elkington (Aus), Larry Nelson, Rich Beem
13.30Harrison Frazar, Robert Allenby (Aus), Ryan Palmer
13.40Tom Gillis, Mark Wilson, Retief Goosen (Rsa)
13.50Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Bryce Molder, Simon Dyson (Eng)
14.00Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), DA Points
14.10Michael Bradley, Robert McClellan, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)
14.20Ben Crane, Brian Cairns, Kyung-tae Kim (Kor)
14.30Kevin Na, Todd Camplin, Scott Piercy
17.45Ryan Moore, Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn), Bob Sowards
17.55Mike Northern, Stephen Gallacher (Sco), GaryWoodland
18.05Matteo Manassero (Ita), Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), Adam Scott (Aus)
18.15Stewart Cink, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Ross Fisher (Eng)
18.25Vijay Singh (Fij), David Toms, Phil Mickelson
18.35Alvaro Quiros (Esp), Luke Donald (Eng), Nick Watney
18.45Tiger Woods, Davis Love III, Pádraig Harrington (Irl)
18.55Ian Poulter (Eng), BubbaWatson, Jeff Overton
19.05Thomas Bjorn (Den), Jim Furyk, KJ Choi (Kor)
19.15Paul Casey (Eng), Steve Stricker, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Esp)
19.25Bill Haas, JB Holmes, Charles Howell III
19.35Scott Verplank, Stuart Smith (Nzl), Jerry Kelly
19.45Brandt Jobe, Dan Olsen, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe)

10th Hole

12.35Scott Erdmann, David Horsey (Eng), Yuta Ikeda (Jpn)
12.45Marty Jertson, Richard Green (Aus), Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn)
12.55Ernie Els (Rsa), Anthony Kim, Jhonattan Vegas (Vie)
13.05Martin Kaymer (Ger), YE Yang (Kor), ShaunMicheel
13.15Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia (Esp)
13.25Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), HunterMahan, Justin Rose (Eng)
13.35Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Darren Clarke (N Ire), Rory McIlroy (N Ire)
13.45Lee Westwood (Eng), Matt Kuchar, Jason Day (Aus)
13.55 Graeme McDowell (N Ire), Zach Johnson, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus)
14.05Camilo Villegas (Col), Lucas Glover, FrancescoMolinari (Ita)
14.15Ricky Barnes, Jonathan Byrd, Heath Slocum
14.25Cameron Tringale, Sean O'Hair, Steve Schneiter
14.35Jeff Coston, DJ Trahan, Seung-yul Noh (Kor)
17.40Craig Stevens, Brendon De Jonge, John Rollins
17.50Andres Romero (Arg), Daniel Balin, Tommy Gainey
18.00Faber Jamerson, Charlie Wi (Kor), Kevin Streelman
18.10Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Jason Dufner,Wen-chong Liang (Chn)
18.20Martin Laird (Sco), Brendan Jones (Aus), Brendan Steele
18.30Spencer Levin, David Hutsell, Peter Hanson (Swe)
18.40Keegan Bradley, Brian Davis (Eng), Bill Lunde
18.50Bo Van Pelt, John Senden (Aus), Scott Stallings
19.00John Daly, Mark Brooks, Jerry Pate
19.10Rocco Mediate, Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Arjun Atwal (Ind)
19.20Robert Garrigus, Jeff Sorenson, Jamie Donaldson (Wal)
19.30Webb Simpson, Sean Dougherty, Gregory Bourdy (Fra)
19.40Alexander Noren (Swe), Rob Moss, JJ Henry