Rory McIlroy’s Tuesday practice round at the second major of the year was cut short due to a nagging blister that’s bothered him for several days.
According to reports on-site at the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pa., McIlroy’s session on Tuesday lasted only three holes due to discomfort he felt from a blister on the pinky toe of his right foot.
Reporters following McIlroy Tuesday said he took his shoe off in the third fairway but finished the hole. He took it off again on the 4th tee before hopping in a cart for a ride to the clubhouse.
McIlroy later told Golf Channel’s Kira K. Dixon he soaked his foot on Monday night and ripped the toenail off afterward.
After the final round of the Truist Championship on Sunday, a reporter asked McIlroy if he was limping.
“Yeah, I’ve got a blister on my pinky toe on my right foot, but it’s underneath my nail,” he said Sunday. “So I can’t really get to it or so it’s a little sore, but I’ll be all right.”
McIlroy said he started to feel it on Friday afternoon but joked he couldn’t use it as an excuse for poor play. He added Sunday he wasn’t concerned about it long term: “No, it’s fine. I’ll be OK.”
Earlier Tuesday, when speaking with the media, McIlroy said he likes “the style of golf” Aronimink presents.
“There’s a lot of bunkers. I think it provides quite a nice bit of variety with shorter par-4s, a couple of longer par-4s. The par-3s, there’s three pretty long ones and a shorter one,” he said. “I think in this day and age I’m not sure if it’s going to test all aspects of your bag. Strategy off the tee is pretty nonexistent. It’s basically bash driver down there and then figure it out from there, which I think is a lot of these newer, newly renovated — I think about Oak Hill in 2023, here — when these traditional golf courses take a lot of trees out, it makes strategy not as much of a concern off the tee.
“But the greens are the main focus this week, and I think getting yourself in the right sections of the greens, making sure you leave yourself below the hole for the most part; that’s the key this week,” he continued. “Again, I’ve only played four competitive rounds here. I don’t know the place that well to give you a great answer on what I like about it, but Philadelphia’s a wonderful golfing city, a lot of great golf courses, and this is certainly one of them.”
McIlroy’s grouped with Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm for the first two rounds. They tee off at 8:40 a.m. ET on Thursday.
