Rory McIlroy issues fitness update after injury fears ahead of US PGA Championship
Rory McIlroy has addressed concerns regarding his injured toe ahead of teeing off at the US PGA Championship.
On Thursday morning, the second golf major of the year tees off as the US PGA Championship begins at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania
Scottie Scheffler is the favourite to claims his fifth major championship over the weekend, with 2025 and 2026 Masters Champion McIlroy, Cameron Young and Jon Rahm also topping the odds.
However, ahead of the tournament teeing off doubts were raised about McIlroy's ability to play the major as the Northern Irishman has been seen struggling with pain from the little toe on his right foot.
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After just three holes on Tuesday, McIlroy was forced to end his practice session early, admitting that he didn't think he would be able to walk the remaining six holes due to pain from removing the nail and popping a blister from the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow.
But ahead of his tee off time on Thursday afternoon, McIlroy has reassured fans that he is "totally fine" and will be fighting fit for the major.
A change of shoes with extra padding in place has helped the world number two ensure he is at his very best ahead of the event.
"I figured it out and separated the little toe from the other ones and a bit of cushion around it definitely helped," he said.
"And then just going to a bigger shoe and a different style of shoe as well, a little wider and a little softer in the toe box.
"It's half a size up and it's a wide fit so there's just a bit more room."
McIlroy continued, assuring that he felt no pain at all while hitting shots on the course on Wednesday.
"I was pleasantly surprised how good it felt," he said.
"Walking downhill, whenever your foot slides into the very end of your shoe is when it maybe gives me a bit of bother but it's totally fine. A mountain out of a molehill."
McIlroy, who won the US PGA Championship in 2014, will tee off at 13:30 BST alongside Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm.
US PGA Championship tee times in full:
All times UK and Ireland (BST)
Starting on Hole One
1145 Braden Shattuck, Alex Fitzpatrick, Ben Griffin
1156 Francisco Bide, Harry Hall, Ryan Gerard
1207 John Keefer, Rico Hoey, Nicolai Hojgaard
1218 Shaun Micheel, Michael Brennan, Garrick Higgo
1229 YE Yang, Jhonattan Vegas, Matt McCarty
1240 Lucas Glover, Tom McKibbin, Stephan Jaeger
1251 Daniel Brown, Adrien Saddier, Harris English
1302 Jacob Bridgeman, Bud Cauley, Alex Noren
1313 Chris Kirk, Max Greyserman, Kristoffer Reitan
1324 Maverick McNealy, Thomas Detry, Padraig Harrington
1335 Ryan Lenahan, Ryan Fox, Kazuki Higa
1346 Jared Jones, Michael Kim, Ryo Hisatsune
1357 Tyler Collet, Kota Kaneko, Brandt Snedeker
1715 Andrew Novak, John Parry, Jordan Gumberg
1726 Ben Polland, Kurt Kitayama, Nico Echavarria
1737 Akshay Bhatia, Ricky Castillo, Michael Thorbjornsen
1748 Luke Donald, Jesse Droemer, Stewart Cink
1759 Hideki Matsuyama, JJ Spaun, Max Homa
1810 Ben Kern, JT Poston, Russell Henley
1821 Adam Scott, Corey Conners, Daniel Berger
1832 Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Shane Lowry
1843 Chris Gotterup, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood
1854 Cameron Young, Keegan Bradley, Justin Thomas
1905 Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose
1916 Zach Haynes, Alex Smalley, Chandler Blanchet
1927 Bernd Wiesberger, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Andy Sullivan
Starting on Hole 10
1150 Aldrich Potgieter, David Puig, Denny McCarthy
1201 William Mouw, Chris Gabriele, Taylor Pendrith
1212 Tom Hoge, Bryce Fisher, Joaquin Niemann
1223 Keith Mitchell, Billy Horschel, Ian Holt
1234 Gary Woodland, Jason Day, Sam Burns
1245 Wyndham Clark, Cameron Smith, Brian Harman
1256 Patrick Cantlay, Min Woo Lee, Sahith Theegala
1307 Si Woo Kim, Derek Berg, Joe Highsmith
1318 Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Åberg, Rickie Fowler
1329 Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Tyrrell Hatton
1340 Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm
1351 Daniel Hillier, Ryan Vermeer, Max McGreevy
1402 Paul McClure, Mikael Lindberg, Angel Ayora
1710 Michael Block, Rasmus Hojgaard, Dustin Johnson
1721 Mark Geddes, Steven Fisk, David Lipsky
1732 Sungjae Im, Austin Hurt, Casey Jarvis
1743 Andrew Putnam, Michael Kartrude, Matt Wallace
1754 Martin Kaymer, Elvis Smylie, Davis Riley
1805 Jason Dufner, Haotong Li, Jimmy Walker
1816 Nick Taylor, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Jordan Smith
1827 Emiliano Grillo, Patrick Reed, Pierceson Coody
1838 Brian Campbell, Adam Schenk, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
1849 Marco Penge, Sepp Straka, Patrick Rodgers
1900 Aaron Rai, Travis Smyth, Sami Valimaki
1911 Sam Stevens, Jayden Schaper, Garrett Sapp
1922 Timothy Wiseman, Matti Schmid, Austin Smotherman
Topics: Rory Mcilroy, Golf, Injury
Ben McCrum