Rory McIlroy: Back not yet 100% but still ‘totally fine’ with Ryder Cup looming

Rory McIlroy said Wednesday he’s still not fully recovered from his recent back injury but has no concerns about his fitness with an important month of golf ahead.

In good position to claim a fourth FedExCup title, McIlroy recently suffered back spasms ahead of the Tour Championship and wound up finishing fourth, a distant 13 shots behind champion Viktor Hovland.

After East Lake, McIlroy didn’t hit balls again for five days to rest, recover and receive treatment. He practiced last Saturday, before departing for London, and then hit balls again Tuesday ahead of the Irish Open. He said the injury was “not at all” like the problems he has endured in the past and is “totally fine.”

“I would say it’s at 90%, 95%,” McIlroy told reporters Wednesday at the K Club. “It’s not 100% better. I just happened to take care of it a little bit, but it’s not preventing me from doing anything I want to do. Just being a little mindful, I guess. I’m a bit limited in what I’ve done, but I sort of needed to rest it and take care of that as the priority.”

It’s an important few weeks for McIlroy, who is returning to the K Club for the first time since his stirring home victory there in 2016. Next week he will scout Marco Simone with the rest of the European Ryder Cup team before heading back to London for the BMW PGA Championship, the DP World Tour’s flagship event. Then, after a bachelor party in Mykonos and a few days of practice, it’s time for the matches in Rome.

Because it was so hot during the PGA Tour’s FedExCup playoffs, McIlroy said that he didn’t feel as though he’s practiced much – he just hit balls, to warm up, and then went out and played his tournament round. Then the back issue popped up, and that largely kept him off the range, too.

“So it will be nice these next couple of weeks, and obviously the week leading into Rome, to sort of feel like I’ve spent some time refining a few things in my game and working on some stuff,” he said. “I’m excited to spend the next few weeks over here and do that.”