Updated March 7, 2026, 2:16 p.m. ET
ORLANDO, Fla. — Rory McIlroy withdrew from the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday citing a bad back.
McIlroy warmed up on the range ahead of his 12:55 p.m. ET tee time alongside Ryan Fox, but pulled out about a half hour before he was supposed to tee off.
“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. Unfortunately, I’m not able to continue and have to withdraw,” he said in a statement. “I was excited to compete this weekend. I wish the Arnold Palmer Invitational a great finish and look forward to being back next year.”
It marks just the second time in his career that McIlroy has withdrawn from a tournament. The other was at the 2013 Honda Classic when he was 7 over and claimed he had a toothache.
McIlroy’s typical warmup routine is to putt first but he went straight to the range to hit a few balls after feeling pain in his lower back and determined that it wasn’t worth pushing it — although he told Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis he could have played but elected to give himself extra rest and allow for treatment to his back ahead of a busy stretch. As McIlroy stepped into a BMW, Golfweek asked him if he was OK and he gave a thumbs up and said, “All good.”
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McIlroy, 36, shot rounds of 72-68 and entered the third round T-9, trailing 36-hole leader Daniel Berger by nine strokes.
McIlroy, who won the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational, is the defending champion of next week’s Players Championship. Next month he will defend at the Masters.
McIlroy wasn’t the only competitor to withdraw from the third round citing a back injury. Austin Smotherman, who held the 54-hole lead at the Cognizant Classic last week before finishing T-2, withdrew after playing five holes on Saturday, about an hour earlier.
