The pre-Masters decision looming for Rory McIlroy after making it through Players Championship unscathed

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Rory McIlroy’s Players Championship week began very much in question because of a back injury he suffered the previous week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

McIlroy, ranked No. 2 in the world and the defending Players and Masters champion, was forced to withdraw from the API at Bay Hill right before his third round last Saturday.

He spent the following four days at home resting and rehabbing and didn’t arrive to TPC Sawgrass for the Players until Wednesday afternoon.

Rory McIlroy watches his approach shot to the 15th hole during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship on March 15, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

His play somewhat resembled that of a player who didn’t play a practice round as he closed out the week at even-par after shooting a 1-under-par 71 on Sunday.

McIlroy barely made the cut to play the weekend, carding birdie on his final hole Friday to secure a spot for third round.

“I’m happy to come through four rounds and feel like my body held up well,” he said Sunday. “I’m happy I got through four days and my body feels good. I feel like my game sort of progressively got a little bit better as the week went on, even though the scores probably didn’t reflect it over the weekend. I hit the ball well. I just didn’t make anything on the greens.”

Now the question, given his mediocre week results-wise, is whether McIlroy adds another tournament to his schedule before Augusta. This week was planned to be his final tournament tune-up before defending his Masters title.

The next PGA Tour event is the Valspar Championship this week, which is followed by the Texas Children’s Hospital Houston Open and then the Valero Texas Open before the Masters.

“I haven’t really made a decision either way,” McIlroy said of adding another tournament. “I’ll see how my body feels. We’ll see how I feel in practice and at home and if I get itchy feet at home maybe add an event at some point.

“I feel like it was important to make the weekend here and play an extra couple of days,” he went on. “(I’ll) really just see how the next week goes, see how once I get back to actually a full practice schedule and in the gym and stuff like that, see how my body reacts to that, and then I’ll see.”

Rory McIlroy looks on from the 18th hole during the final round of the PLAYERS Championship on March 15, 2026. Getty Images

Asked what TPC Sawgrass told him about his game this week, McIlroy said, “Sometimes you feel like it tells you stuff, and then other times it sort of doesn’t. I’ve had bad results here and went on to have a good season, and I’ve had good results here, and the two really good results here I’ve went on to have good seasons.

“It’s a decent litmus test. I don’t think it’s the best in terms of telling you where your game is at. It can get a little funky if you hit it in some spots. You have to be really on to shoot scores here. I guess it tells you a lot about that. I feel like I hit the ball well the last three days. I didn’t get a lot out of it. But I do feel like I saw some good signs even though the scores didn’t quite reflect it.”

Asked if he plans to play in his TGL match Tuesday, McIlroy said, “We’ll see. Yeah, geez, I haven’t even … yeah, we’ll see.”