Rory McIlroy entered the PGA Tour Championship in third place at 7-under par thanks to the PGA Tour season finale's unique scoring system. As a result, the red-hot McIlroy was a popular bet to win the event.'
Shortly before McIlroy teed off Thursday, news came out that the four-time major champion was dealing with a back injury and barely practiced all week. While McIlroy gutted through the tournament — he finished in fourth place, 13 shots behind champion Viktor Hovland — he clearly didn't have his best stuff.'
“I can’t swing my irons the way I want to,” McIlroy told the press Friday. “I can’t turn my right side through the ball. So from the top of the swing I’m just sort of throwing my arms at it and it’s a lot of face rotation and I can only really hit it one way with the irons. I can’t hit the driver the way I usually do. Like, teeing it up I’m teeing it down and just hitting a sort of flat little runner down there. So, yeah, look, a little limited to the shots that I can hit, but I’m getting by.”
For bettors, McIlroy playing at less than 100% was a nightmare scenario.'