ORLANDO, Fla. – Rory McIlroy pulled out of the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday when he felt muscle spasms in his back that wouldn’t go away.
The cramps are not thought to be serious enough to keep him out of next week’s Players Championship, where McIlroy will be the defending champion. He was heading home to South Florida.
“While warming up in the gym this morning, I felt a slight twinge in my back,” McIlroy said in a PGA Tour statement. “When I started hitting balls in the range before the round, it got worse and developed into muscle spasms in my lower back.”
“Unfortunately, I cannot continue and have to withdraw,” he said. “I was excited to compete this weekend. I wish the Arnold Palmer Invitational a great finish and look forward to returning next year.”
It was his first major back issue since the Tour Championship in 2023, which he played in discomfort and tied for fourth in the FedEx Cup Final. He played twice more in Ireland and England before going 4-1 to lead Europe to another Ryder Cup victory.
McIlroy is approaching a big phase in golf that culminates with the first major tournament of the year at the Masters, which begins April 9 and features McIlroy as the defending champion. He won last year to become only the sixth player to win a Grand Slam in his career.
McIlroy pulled out about 30 minutes before his scheduled start on Saturday. He was warming up at the range when he realized the cramps wouldn’t go away in the warm weather at Bay Hill.
This was only the third time McIlroy had been forced to withdraw from the tournament. He left the Nedbank Golf Challenge in 2009 due to influenza virus and food poisoning, and withdrew from the Honda Classic midway through the second round in 2013, initially citing wisdom tooth pain and a week later he apologized by saying his head wasn’t in the right place.
The Bay Hill Championship was his fifth tournament of the year – two in Dubai, and a pair of marquee events at Pebble Beach and the Riviera. McIlroy played Augusta National just over a week ago for the first time since winning the Masters. Earlier this week, he teamed with his father to win the Seminole Pro Series in South Florida.
