ATLANTA – A nagging back injury slowed Rory McIlroy for the second consecutive day at the Tour Championship, but the three-time winner at East Lake remained in the hunt with a second-round 67.
McIlroy injured his lower back on Tuesday and was unable to practice or play before Thursday’s opening round. Despite those limitations, he’s just six shots off the lead held by Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa.
Still, he didn’t sound like a player poised to make a run.
“I felt like if I could get through [Thursday] I was just hoping that each day it would get progressively better. I would say it got a touch better today in terms of being able to just put a little bit more speed into the swing,” McIlroy said. “Still limited what I could do. It certainly doesn’t feel any worse today, so at least I know I’m not doing any damage or I don’t necessarily think that by me playing it’s going to get worse.”
McIlroy said it’s the shorter clubs that cause the most discomfort because he’s unable to maintain his posture through impact. He also said there’s no risk of making the injury any worse, but he did concede that the limitations could lead to “bad habits” with his swing.
“I would say maybe bad habits. Hopefully it starts to feel better and maybe by the end of next week I’ll be able to hit some balls again and get out of those bad habits,” he said.
