Improved McIlroy to rest back before turning to Irish Open 

Rory McIlroy finished strongly with a 5-under 65 to place fourth on 14-under in his Tour Championship title defence.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 27: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts after finishing on the 18th green during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on August 27, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

At the end of a long week of nursing back spasms, Rory McIlroy was feeling better and finished strongly with a 5-under 65 to finish fourth on 14-under in his Tour Championship title defence. He made five birdies in the last seven holes, only marred by a bogey at 16 that kept him from pushing for third.

“Hung in there the first couple days when I really wasn't feeling great. Then quite a bit of improvement yesterday,” McIlroy said. “Then felt I could actually tee the driver up a bit today and hit a couple of tee shots in the air. Felt like I could cover the ball more with my irons. So, just excited that I'm feeling better. So that's good, going into the next few weeks, and nice to sign off with a good score.” 

McIlroy said he plans to take it easy on his back the next few days before getting ready for the Horizon Irish Open at The K Club from September 7-10. Then he’ll play the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth the following week before the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Rome Italy, 29 September-1 October.

“Hopefully by the end of the week it sort of works its way out. But, yeah, it's much better,” he said. “So just take it easy and maybe hit a few balls sort of closer to the weekend next week to get ready for Ireland. So probably put the clubs away for three or four days and make sure that everything body-wise is good. Start up again and get ready for the next few weeks.”

McIlroy’s focus is on getting himself ready to maintain Europe’s home streak in the Ryder Cup and to reclaim the narrative after a crushing 19-9 loss to the Americans two years ago at Whistling Straits.

“I'm excited to get back over to Europe; we're all sort of making our way over to Europe a couple weeks early,” he said of a European team that’s coming into shape. “So it will be nice to all get together, get some early team dinners before the week in Rome and sort of really feel like that sort of team chemistry is starting already. So, yeah, I think we're all excited. We're all, for the most part, playing really good.”