Rory McIlroy may sit out rest of 2017

Rory McIlroy has hinted that he might not play again this year owing to ongoing injury problems that undermined his US PGA Championship title tilt

Speaking after closing out the year’s final men’s major with a three-under 68 to finish on one-over, the Northern Irishman suggested that Quail Hollow might be his final appearance of 2017.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said McIlroy. “You might not see me until next year. You might see me in a couple of weeks’ time. It really depends.

“Right now I can feel my left rhomboid going into spasm. It’s sort of the way it has been the last few weeks. I have upped my practice coming into these two events because I wanted to feel like I was in a good place in my game. But, yeah, right now it’s a tough one because I go out there and play and shoot decent scores, but when I come off the course, I feel my left arm go numb.

“So I don’t know what to do. I have got this next week off to assess what I need to go forward.”

McIlroy had been heavily fancied to win the US PGA on a course where he has an exceptional record. As well as winning the Wells Fargo Championship twice there, he is also the course record holder at Quail Hollow and leads the PGA Tour scoring average there since 2010.

However, his title bid never really got going, leaving him winless in golf’s four marquee events for the third calendar year in succession. That’s something he says he plans to address before the Masters next Spring, where he will once again attempt to complete the career grand slam.

“It’s tough,” said McIlroy. “I want to get back into that winner’s circle. You don’t want to be teeing off at 9:45 on the final rounds of a major on a Sunday. That is not where you want to be. I have a good bit of time to get healthy and address a few things going forward. The next big thing is April and that’s really what my focus will be on from now until then.”

He added that his search for a full-time replacement for caddie J.P. Fitzgerald is “up in the air” with the uncertainty over when he might play next.