Rory McIlroy may have been able to finish early on Sunday at The Players Championship, but he still managed to send out an ominous message to his rivals ahead of The Masters.
It proved to be an underwhelming week for Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman was, of course, the defending champion following his playoff over J.J. Spaun 12 months ago.
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He ended up failing to break 70 in any of his four rounds in Florida and finished level par for the week.
Nevertheless, McIlroy showed off the tee on Sunday that he is going to be a serious threat when the golfing world heads to Augusta National next month.
Rory McIlroy ends his Players Championship week on a high
Heading into the PGA Tour‘s flagship event, there were doubts over whether McIlroy would even be playing at TPC Sawgrass after he withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational ahead of the third round.
McIlroy kept everyone guessing over whether he would even be able to play in The Players. The 36-year-old only turned up at the venue on Wednesday after delaying his arrival.
Clearly, McIlroy did not have his A game this week. He lost strokes to the field in every round when it came to his putting, according to Data Golf.
But at a time when his back was a concern – it would have been no surprise to see him not turn up had this week involved a regular PGA Tour event – it is McIlroy’s numbers off the tee that should alarm his rivals.
McIlroy gained nearly three shots on the field just off the tee during the final round. He hit a 367-yard drive on the 12th hole.
Unsurprisingly, it was by far the best performance of any player in the field.
McIlroy proves a point just weeks before The Masters
McIlroy would obviously rather be contending at Sawgrass so close to the first major of the year. But a week ago, his biggest concern would have surely been whether his back would be okay upon his return to competition.
Augusta National is a tough walk at the best of times. So McIlroy does not want to be concerned with how his back will hold up on a major championship stage.
His driving display on Sunday suggests that he will be absolutely fine at The Masters.
In fact, he is looking incredibly dangerous given that it has barely been a week since his departure from Bay Hill left a serious question mark over what the coming weeks would look like for McIlroy.
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