OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – Rory McIlroy came close to shutting down his season and eliminating his opportunity this year to become the first player to successfully defend the FedExCup. The dull ache from an inflamed rib joint had left him frustrated and concerned. Rest was an alluring option. More than the nagging pain, though, was a nagging feeling that McIlroy couldn’t shake. For each of the last eight years, he had always managed to win one event. But thus far in 2017, he has been shut out. McIlroy could manage the pain he was feeling. What he couldn’t manage was the disappointment of going through an entire calendar year without raising a trophy. “The real thing for me was I want to win,� McIlroy said Wednesday on the eve of the FedExCup Playoffs opener, THE NORTHERN TRUST. “I want to win at least once before the end of the year. I haven’t not won a tournament since the 2008 season, which was my real rookie season on the European Tour. “Even in 2013 when I struggled, I went down to Australia at the end of the year and I won – and it made the end of the year feel pretty good. I’d like to have that feeling again.� He’s guaranteed at least three more chances in the Playoffs. He begins the week 44th in points, which will safely keep him inside the top 70 players who’ll advance to the third event, the BMW Championship. He still has work to do to move inside the top 30 for the TOUR Championship, which McIlroy won last year in a playoff against Ryan Moore and Kevin Chappell. That’s the last time McIlroy has won. Since then, he’s battled a rib injury for most of 2017, and also took time off to get married. He’s made just 13 starts this season. His game seemed to be coming around after top-5 finishes at the Open Championship and the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. But in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, a course on which he’s won twice, he was not in contention. On that Sunday, he finished the final round unsure of his immediate playing schedule due to the rib problem and what he described then as numbness in his left arm after each round. He amended that description this week to “a dull ache.� “Whenever someone hears numbness, all of a sudden, it’s like, well, that’s nerves and that’s really bad,� McIlroy said. “It wasn’t quite numbness. I didn’t probably describe it the right way.� He returned to Northern Ireland, took a few days off and then met with fitness advisor Steve McGregor. By then, the symptoms had calmed down. McIlroy explained Wednesday that his rib is healthy; the problem area is the joint that attached the rib to the vertebrae. He said the ligament has “become quite lax� and thus the joint frequently moves out of line. The more he adjusts it back in place, the longer it stays inflamed. He called it a never-ending cycle – one he hopes will end after his three-month sabbatical at the end of this year. Besides the FedExCup Playoffs, McIlroy will play the Dunhill Links Championship in October. After that, he plans to put the clubs away for six weeks before resuming practice. His next competitive event won’t be until mid-January. “It’s something that I’m going to have to address,� McIlroy said. “If I manage it over these next few weeks, I can’t do any damage to it. It’s not as if I can do anything that’s not already there. So it’s just about managing it.� As for taking three months off? “I’m excited for it,� he said. “To have three months where I can focus on myself, my health, my game and just improvement – I don’t think I’m ever going to get a chance like this in my career again where I get this opportunity to take three months to re-evaluate things.� Had the pain impacted his playing ability, he would have already ended his season. But he said it does not impact him when he’s inside the ropes. That’s why he’s looking forward to offering a proper defense of his FedExCup title. “I feel like I’m capable of giving myself a chance to win this thing,� McIlroy said. “So if you feel that way and you know you’re not going to do yourself any hard, then I think that was the right decision in the end.� A year ago, he started the FedExCup Playoffs in the 36th position. Like this year, McIlroy had not won on the PGA TOUR in 2016 (although he did win his own Irish Open during that summer). But he won at TPC Boston – next week’s venue for the Dell Technologies Championship – to vault inside the top six and give himself a realistic chance at East Lake. It was an opportunity he converted. It also was a satisfying end to his TOUR season. Perhaps he’ll use the same formula again. “Sometimes with lower expectations, you can come in and the pressure is off a little bit and you can make a run,� McIlroy said. “Feel like you’re more the hunter than the hunted. That’s how I felt last year and I got hot at the right time. “Your win two of the four, you should have a great chance of winning the entire thing. That’s the goal again the next few weeks and hopefully I can do that.�
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