Defending champ Rory McIlroy superbly birdied the last to boost chances of playing all four days in the Players Championship.
McIlro posted a one-under par 71 to end with a one-over par tally.
In ending his round, McIlroy was sharing 54th place and one shot inside the projected cut-off mark of two-over.
And if there was a great example of McIlroy’s enthusiasm to play all four rounds it was evident at his final hole, the par-5 ninth. Rors hit a 310-yard drive into light rough down the leftside of the fairway, leaving him some 284-yards to an unsighted green.
Then in playing his shot, McIlroy sprinted right towards the centre of the fairway and looking-on in delight to be just among a handful of players on day two to find the green in two.
Caddy Harry Diamond handed him the putter and with McIlroy staring at a 31-foot putt for an eagle ‘3’ that just missed the mark for a tap-in birdie ‘4’.
“It would’ve sucked to be going home this afternoon.”
Defending champion Rory McIlroy birdied his final hole to move one shot inside the projected cut line @THEPLAYERS. pic.twitter.com/TwTnnrTXWO
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 13, 2026
He then faced the attending media.
Q. Seemed like you were playing from behind a lot over the past two days. Do you feel pretty good about where you’re at after these two rounds?
RORY McILROY: Not really. I wish I was further up the leaderboard. I felt like I played well enough today to be up the leaderboard, I just couldn’t get a putt to drop. I feel like I hit the ball a bit better today than I did yesterday also, so hopefully I’ve done enough to get into the weekend and have another two days at it.
Q. Did you feel all right waking up today and getting ready?
RORY McILROY: Yeah. No, it does, it feels pretty much there. Not all the way there, but like, I feel like it’s just progressively getting better each and every day.
Q. Are you still working out in the morning?
RORY McILROY: No, no. Just muscle stim and just like some little like activation exercises, yeah.
ANXIOUS A’NOON WAIT FOR RORS ……
As @McIlroyRory wonders if he’s done enough to play all four rounds in his @THEPLAYERS defence
And revealing how will he spend the a’noon: “Rest, a little bit of treatment, take a couple of muscle relaxers, have a nap“.
Read:… pic.twitter.com/PrYF5n3UuU
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) March 13, 2026
Q. Doesn’t seem like it’s affecting your tee ball at all.
RORY McILROY: No, because I’m a little more upright with the driver with the longer stuff. It’s more when I get over it. So chipping yesterday or like when the ball was below my feet is when I — not that I felt it, but it was more — it was okay. It was just like I had a hard time trusting it, more so than anything else.
But today it was, you know, I think having a day where I was like, okay, that was fine, I didn’t really feel anything, I woke up this morning felt fine, so, yeah.
Q. Last week I know it’s totally different situation because he had surgery but JT talked about giving himself grace because of coming back, and yours was much shorter obviously —
RORY McILROY: Thankfully.
Q. Are you at all yesterday or today saying, okay, I’ve gone through something, I got to give myself a little bit of a break?
RORY McILROY: Yeah, I mean, I’m happy to be — well, hopefully depending upon what happens this afternoon, but I’m happy to be here for the weekend. I’m happy to get two more runs at it. So yeah, like, it would have sucked to be going home this afternoon, so to hang around and hopefully play two more days, that’s a win.
Q. Do you feel any stress on the back nine about making the cut?
RORY McILROY: Bones asked me walking down the 9th hole there, my last hole, what’s your plan after this for like the next few weeks, and I said, Bones, I’ll tell you after this hole. There’s a lot riding on this golf hole. So I mean, obviously I wanted to make the cut, of course. I mean, yeah, of course you want to be here for the weekend.
Q. At this point in your career when you do miss a cut, does it wound your pride or do you just kind of blow it off?
RORY McILROY: I think a little bit of both. I think it does wound your pride. I think, I don’t know, I have 280-odd starts on the PGA TOUR and I’ve missed maybe less than 30 cuts. So, yeah, I’m proud of that. But then in golf, as everyone knows, you have to sort of blow it off and move on to the next thing. But if I had have missed the cut I probably would have added an event going into the Masters, so hopefully I’m here for the weekend and I don’t have to do that.
Q. What do you do this afternoon, just rest or —
RORY McILROY: Yeah, rest, a little bit of treatment, take a couple of muscle relaxers, have a nap.
