Early Monday morning, Rory McIlroy announced that he ruptured and ankle ligament playing soccer over the weekend, leaving his status for the Open in question.
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The extent of the injury has been determined, though it’s unclear when McIlroy will be able to play again.
Sean O’Flaherty, his chief spokesman, said McIlroy has withdrawn from the Scottish Open this week at Gullane.
McIlroy won the Open a year ago at Royal Liverpool by going wire to wire and taking a 6-shot lead into the final round.
Jordan Spieth is many bookmakers’ favorite to triumph this time around, with the American looking to win a third successive major following victories at the Masters and the US Open.
And while it’s easy to be wise after the event, it’s extraordinary that McIlroy should be risking his season playing football just as he goes into the most crucial few weeks of 2015. “I would never say, ‘Don’t play football or don’t do these thing.’ You don’t want to live in a bubble”.
“I know St Andrews is a golf course he really loves and a golf course that really suits his game. It’s a shame if Rory were to miss the Open, which it looks like he might”.
Shane Lowry has defended Rory McIlroy for injuring himself playing football – blowing his hopes of defending his British Open and U.S. PGA titles this summer.
“If it is on the severe end of the spectrum it is highly unlikely he would be playing next week”.
“That’s a big blow to the Open if he misses it”, ex- Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance said from Wimbledon, while Sir Nick Faldo took to Twitter to express his disappointment.
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In 2010, he tied the low single round mark in a major with an opening round 63 and finished T-3 at St. Andrews and notched another T-3 at Whistling Straits later that year, one shot out of the Martin Kaymer-Bubba Watson playoff.
