McIlroy out of Arnold Palmer Invitational with back injury ahead of third round

[p]The 36-year-old withdrew from the tournament at ‌Bay Hill in Florida about 30 ‌minutes before his scheduled tee time.[/p][p][b]"While warming up in the gym this morning, ‌I felt a small twinge ⁠in my back. ‌As I started hitting balls on the ​range before the round, it worsened and developed into muscle spasms ​in my lower back,"[/b] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mcilroy-rory/djwanksN/"]McIlroy[/a] said in a statement.[/p][p][b]"Unfortunately, I'm not able ⁠to continue ​and have to withdraw. I was excited to compete this weekend. I wish the Arnold Palmer Invitational a great ‌finish and look forward to being back next year."[/b][/p][embed guid="7deaa546-5a35-4fe4-90fe-8a2de5d79780" url="https://x.com/PGATOUR/status/2030337953642258719" social-type="twitter" /][p]McIlroy, with 29 PGA Tour wins, had previously withdrawn only once from a Tour event at the 2013 Cognizant Classic and is scheduled to defend his title at The Players Championship next week at TPC Sawgrass.[/p][p]In ‌2023, ahead of the Tour Championship, ​McIlroy suffered lower right back spasms ‌that caused his back to seize up while stretching at home, though he still went on to compete.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.com/golf/pga-tour/arnold-palmer-invitational/"][b]See the Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard here.[/b][/a][/p]