Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy has already established himself as a name to watch, but the 20-year-old's dedication to his sport might yet prove his undoing. It seems the kid from Holywood has picked up a back injury, apparently the result of too much practice.
The 20-year-old underwent an arduous schedule at the start of his new campaign, taking part in eight-hour practice sessions in a bid to improve his game. But while McIlroy says the injury has left his swing unaffected, the Ulsterman admitted that bending down to pick a ball up results in pain.
"It's my left sacroiliac joint," McIlroy told the Irish Independent. "It's something I've had for a while and I inflamed it during the four weeks I've been out here [in Dubai]. It's just a repetitive thing. When I hit a lot of balls, it just niggles a little bit. It's been at me all week. The more the week went on, the more it was there. I can still swing okay but felt it when bending down or if I hit one hard."
McIlroy underwent a scan at a Belfast hospital yesterday, and a spokesman for the player described the problem as "very manageable," amid concerns that the golfer should be succumbing to potentially bothersome injuries at such a young age.
McIlroy played at the Dubai Desert Classic last week, but after an opening day that saw him within one stroke of the leaders, he eventually finished in joint sixth place. That performance was enough to see his world ranking increase to a personal best of No. 7 in the world, but in recent days McIlroy has spoken of his frustration at being unable to finish at the top of the leaderboard.
Though he has a formidable record when it comes to top-10 finishes, the player has only won one tournament in his career so far - at last year's Dubai Desert Classic. This year McIlroy will be contesting the US PGA Tour as well as the European Tour, and he has already identified goals for the season - like moving into the top five in the world, and putting in a good result at one of the majors. In two weeks, he's due to fly to the US to compete in the WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.
Winning a tournament sometime soon must also loom large in the player's plans, but right now McIlroy would probably settle for a healthy prognosis when it comes to that pesky sacroiliac joint.
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