Rory
McIlroy will leave it until the last minute before deciding whether to
play through the pain barrier at the US PGA in Atlanta.
The 22-year-old suffered an injured wrist on Thursday when he struck a tree root at the third hole.He visited an orthopaedic specialist after his round and will make a decision on whether to continue before his tee-off time at 1335 BST.
Despite the injury, McIlroy carded 70 on the opening day.
The accident happened when McIlroy's drive on the 375-yard par-four third nestled on a root in the left trees but, instead of playing out sideways, along the length of the root, he opted to try to hit the ball forward.
McIlroy applied an ice pack and played on, despite wincing after each shot.
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"It
was just like a sharp pain up the forearm and there's a little bit of
swelling just on the inside of my wrist," McIlroy said.Rory McIlroyConsidering the amount of times I finished with one hand, I hit some good shots
"Then it was going up into my elbow and my shoulder. It's throbbing a bit and every time I went through a shot I was in a lot of pain."
The Northern Ireland-born ace saw a physio on the fifth and had strapping applied on the eighth and again on the 10th.
"I thought maybe the tree root was a foot in front of the ball and thought if I could make contact with the ball and let the club go I could get away with it," said the Northern Irishman.
"In hindsight I would have been better to chip out sideways and still get a five. But it was a shot where I thought if I took it on and pulled it off it could have saved me a shot.
"The physio said it was my decision [whether to continue]. It's the last major of the year and there's six or seven [actually eight] months to the Masters.
"There were a couple of times I thought about not continuing, but it's a very important tournament and I'm still in the hunt."
After
the injury, it seemed likely McIlroy would have to retire but he
played on despite the discomfort. He bogeyed the third but parred the
short fourth and then got up and down from a bunker for a birdie on the
long fifth.He received a lengthy examination from a physio on the fifth green, eventually opting to continue, and sank a 20ft putt for another birdie at the next to edge to one under.
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