Rory McIlroy Ends Players Championship 3rd Round 1 Under Par Despite Back Injury
Rory McIlroy once again put together a solid day at the 2017 Players Championship, finishing the third round with a 71 to bring his 54-hole total to one under par.
Starting the day nine shots off the lead at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, McIlroy was climbing up a steep mountain if he hoped to put himself in contention on Sunday. He did get under par for the tournament, which has been a challenge in itself for the 28-year-old this week.
Here's what McIlroy's scorecard looked like on Saturday:
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| Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| Score | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 35 |
| Overall | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | E | E | E | E | -1 | - |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 36 |
| Score | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 36 |
| Overall | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | E | E | -1 | -2 | -1 | - |
Here's the leaderboard featuring the players McIlroy is looking up at:
The big story for McIlroy this week has revolved around his back. He first made mention of aggravating his back after shooting a 73 in the first round.
After rebounding with a 71 in the second round, McIlroy said he does have an MRI scheduled for Monday.
''It's obviously not 100 percent,'' he said, per the Associated Press (via Golf.com). ''But it's good enough to get myself around here for the next couple of days. I'm going for an MRI scan on Monday just to make sure it's not serious, and then I'll see what we do from there.''
You would never know there was anything physically wrong with him on the 12th hole when he did this off the tee with an iron, via PGA Tour on Twitter:
Granted, the shot wasn't what McIlroy wanted to do, but it's still an impressive mistake. He was able to salvage par on the hole, so it didn't end badly for him.
There were some indications McIlroy was trying to be more careful so as not to risk doing further damage to himself. His average driving distance of 278.5 was his lowest in a round at the Players Championship, per PGATour.com.
Despite losing some distance off the tee, he did make up for it with his best putting day of the tournament. The four-time major champion gained 2.79 strokes with the putter, a vast improvement from his tournament average of 1.28, per PGATour.com.
It's just been a struggle for McIlroy to find any momentum from hole to hole and round to round. He has settled down since the first round, when he hit two double-bogeys and two bogeys, finishing Saturday with four birdies and three bogeys.
The third round started well for McIlroy with a birdie on the opening hole. He remained one shot under par until the fifth hole when he hit his first bogey. He birdied the ninth hole for the third straight day, making the turn one under.
After another bogey on No. 14 pushed McIlroy back to even par for the round, he would start to turn things on with consecutive birdies on Nos. 16 and 17, the latter of which came after a terrific tee shot, via PGA Tour on Twitter:
It will end up being too late for McIlroy to do anything at the Players Championship with just 18 holes left to go, but this did offer that ray of hope things will start to look normal in the ensuing weeks, leading up to the U.S. Open on June 12.
This is also McIlroy's first tournament since the Masters five weeks ago. He's still trying to work off the rust and get through his back problems without causing himself more severe, long-term problems.
All things considered, shooting 71 for the second straight day looks pretty good for McIlroy.
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