• World No2 to have MRI scan on back injury next week • ‘I’ve been struggling with it a bit. I’ve just sort of been managing it’

Rory McIlroy will have an MRI scan on a back injury next week after confirming the problem still troubled him during the second round of the Players Championship. The four-times major champion is unclear as to the extent of the ailment.

McIlroy revealed on Thursday that back pain had disrupted his build-up to his first event since last month’s Masters. Among those anxious about what results appear in Belfast on Monday will be the European Tour – McIlroy is due to be the marquee player at Wentworth’s BMW PGA Championship from 25 May.

“I’ve been struggling with it a bit,” McIlroy said after a second-round 71 here. “I felt it for the first time on Sunday. I’ve just sort of been managing it since.

“It’s OK, it’s manageable. It’s not obviously 100% but it’s good enough to get myself around here for the next couple of days. I’m going for an MRI scan on Monday just to make sure it’s not serious and then I’ll see what we do from there.

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“But there’s so many unknowns because we don’t even know … unless you get an image taken of it and you know exactly what’s going on you don’t know. We are just making sure that the tissue around it is as loose as it possibly can be and at least the warm weather helps keep it not stiffened up.”

McIlroy missed events in the Middle East and United States in the early part of this year after suffering a stress fracture to a rib. While insisting the pain from this associated injury is considerably less severe, McIlroy will take a cautious approach before the busiest part of his season.

“It’s in the same area as the injury at the start of the year,” McIlroy added. “If that injury was an eight or a nine in terms of pain and soreness and stiffness, this is around a four or five. It might just be a flare-up of what happened previously and I just need to rest for a few days and it might be OK. Hopefully that’s what it shows in the scan.

“Thankfully it feels more muscular than joint or bone at this point. I feel like I can distinguish what the difference is between the two. It’s just about making sure that this left rhomboid doesn’t go into spasm and doesn’t really tighten up around the joint. The warm weather helps; it helps it stay a little looser.

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“I had the injury, then I played three our of four events leading up to Augusta and then I took a little bit of time off. So my body adapted and got used to playing and practising again. I took another three weeks off and then I went back at it on Friday. Instead of maybe gradually building it up again, I hit balls for four or five hours on Friday and did the same on Saturday. I felt a bit of stiffness on Sunday, hit a couple of drives that didn’t feel quite right.

“So I maybe should have just taken it a bit easier over the weekend but I was excited to get back, excited to get ready to play again and so maybe just being a little overkeen was to my detriment.”

By close of play McIlroy’s even-par aggregate was nine adrift of the leaders, Kyle Stanley and Louis Oosthuizen. Day two scoring was noticeably high, generally as a consequence of tough pin placements.

“It’s Sawgrass, it’s tricky,” McIlroy said. “You have got to hit some really quality shots to get the ball close and give yourself opportunities for birdies.”

Dustin Johnson’s 73 meant the world No1 matched McIlroy’s 36-hole score. Jon Rahm, a player whose star continues to rise at pace, signed for a 72 to remain at four under. “I have good momentum going into the weekend,” Rahm said.

The same applied to Rahm’s compatriot Sergio García. In his first outing since victory at Augusta National García is alongside Johnson and McIlroy at level.

“I’m not going to lie, I would have loved to have played better than I did the first two days,” García said, though he was still being acclaimed for a wonderful hole in one at the 17th, 24 hours earlier. “It has been overwhelming. I hadn’t won a major and I haven’t won the Masters before, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect and what to feel. To come back to this golf course that we know how challenging it is, it’s maybe not the best thing. Hopefully I can free up a little bit on the weekend and play a little bit better.”

Danny Willett’s troubles continued after withdrawing only nine holes into his second round. A back injury was cited but scepticism is natural given that he had shot a 79 on day one and was four over for his second round.