JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – For the second consecutive time this year, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has watched the circuit’s future motored away in a Mercedes luxury car.
In May, it was Tiger Woods, run off property at TPC Sawgrass with an ailing left knee and Achilles tendon that would lead to a three-month stint on the “DL” and an uncertain future.
On Thursday it was Rory McIlroy, who injured his right wrist when he struck a root while hitting from the trees left of the third fairway during the first round of the PGA Championship.
Last week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational the Ulsterman said he was “leaning toward” taking up Tour membership again next year, a boon for Finchem & Co. on the eve of a new round of television contract talks with the networks.
“He asked me (about rejoining the Tour) and I said, ‘You’re 22, if you’re going to do it commit to it, the playoffs and all,’” said McIlroy’s father, Gerry, on Thursday at Atlanta Athletic Club.
It must have been almost as painful for Finchem to watch as McIlroy was rushed off property on his way to a nearby hospital for a magnetic resonance imaging test late Thursday.
McIlroy said he wasn’t worried about causing further damage to his wrist by continuing to play and reasoned the PGA was the last major of the year and he has some seven months before the Masters.
Gerry McIlroy had a slightly different take on his son’s heroics: “He probably thinks all these people came to see him, so he should play,” he said.
After McIlroy’s MRI, an IMS spokesman announced, ‘The initial diagnosis shows that Rory has a strained tendon in his right wrist. He will obviously rest it tonight and he will see how it feels in the morning on the range.’
McIlroy is scheduled to tee off at 8:35 a.m. on Friday on the 10th hole.