Rory McIlroy’s wrist gamble may not have paid off, but with the help of Kinesio Taping and good physiotherapy, he gave it real shot – or should we say an extra round.

According to Reuters reporter Simon Evans, “McIlroy suffered an early setback at the PGA Championship when he injured his right wrist during the first round at Atlanta Athletic Club.

“The Northern Irishman, playing from the left rough on the par-four third, struck a tree root on his downswing and lost control of the club as he injured his lower arm and wrist area.

Evans recounted, “McIlroy continued to play, in clear discomfort and some pain, while applying an ice-pack as he walked down the fairways in a bid to reduce swelling.
“On the fifth hole, he received attention from a member of the tournament medical staff before continuing with his round.

“The 22-year-old entered the tournament as the bookmaker's favorite to win his second major of the year.”

In The Irish Times on Saturday, August 13, golf correspondent Philip Reid reported that “McIlroy sustained the injury when hitting an exposed tree root on the third hole of his first round and it was subsequently diagnosed as a strained tendon in his forearm.

Reid continued, “Admitting that he would have withdrawn if it was a regular tournament, McIlroy – winner of the US Open at Congressional in record-breaking style in June – has a different attitude to Majors and, so, with the help of a medical aid called kinesio tape with a plastic splint, he has endeavoured to produce his magic without being in the whole of his health.”

“Was it a mistake,” The Irish Times wondered, “to attempt to play that shot on the third on Thursday?”

“Looking back on it, and how close the root was to the ball, it probably wasn’t the right decision,” conceded McIlroy. “But I felt at the time that I could make impact, let go of the club, and get it up somewhere around the green. In Major championships, every shot counts, and that’s all I was really thinking about.”

There may be lessons besides the benefits of Kinesio Taping to be learned from the incident. Keith Duggan, also of The Irish Times, considered the issue of golf safety. He wrote, “[A]s McIlroy continued to receive physiotherapy, there was time to reflect on just what a dangerous bloody game it is. There are certain concealed facts about golf. It is all too rarely acknowledged that more people are struck by lightning on golf courses than anywhere else in the world. They say that on certain notorious Scottish courses, many men follow their ball into the rough and are never seen again. The golf fraternity don’t send out search parties either: they just wait six months and sell off his membership. They are a tough, unsentimental breed.”

Find more coverage of the incident, including pictures of McIlroy with the tape, at these links:

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