'A Game-Time Decision' - Rory McIlroy Hopeful Of Overcoming Back Injury To Make Players Championship Title Defense

Rory McIlroy is hopeful of competing in The Players Championship, despite sustaining a back injury that forced his withdrawal from last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational.

On Tuesday, it was reported by the Golf Channel's Todd Lewis that, following rest, McIlroy intended to arrive at TPC Sawgrass on Wednesday, albeit with the probability that he would decide against taking his final chance to play a practice round.

True to his word, McIlroy appeared at the iconic Pointe Vedra Beach venue as scheduled on Wednesday afternoon.

While the two-time champion opted against a practice round, footage emerged on X of him putting his back through its paces, both in the form of some light wedge swings, as posted by Skratch, and some full swings, as shown in a video posted by Jacksonville, Florida sports media brand Action Sports Jax.

Afterwards, McIlroy gave a cautiously optimistic assessment of his chances of playing in the tournament to the media.

He said: "It's better. It's better than it was. I hit up until a 6-iron on the range there and it felt OK. I've got about, I don't know, is it 20 hours until I tee off, or until I'm supposed to tee off tomorrow.

"So, yeah, we'll see. I'm taking it sort of hour by hour. But it feels better. That's all I can say.

"Like I couldn't stand to address the ball on Saturday morning on the range at Bay Hill, and it's obviously better than that.

"So, yeah, probably a game-time decision, but all indications are pointing in the right direction, so hopefully good night tonight. The drugs are working wonders, and then just keep it going from there."

Asked how concerning it is that he could aggravate the issue during the tournament, he added. "It's not. It's not structural, it's not joint, it's fine.

"It's purely muscular sort of discomfort and fatigue. So there's nothing I can - I don't think, and what I've been told, obviously I'll listen to the professionals. But there's nothing that I can do that's going to harm that."

McIlroy also revealed his work wasn't quite done for the day - he also planned to head onto the back nine with caddie Harry Diamond.

He added: "We're going to go walk nine holes now with a wedge and a putter just so I can get a feel for the rough around the greens and how firm the greens are. It seems like a pretty different setup this year than what it's been in previous years in March.

"So I would much rather do sort of short game and putting on the course rather than on the practice area, just get a better feel for the shots that you need."

We’ll know soon enough whether McIlroy, who also has the defence of his Masters title coming up next month, is deemed fit enough to defend his title.

He’s due to tee it up in his first round at 1.42pm local time on Thursday in a group with Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama.