Rory McIlroy suffers food poisoning ahead of WGC-HSBC Champions
Thursday 5 November 2015 06:08, UK
Rory McIlroy's preparations for this week's WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai have been heavily disrupted by a bout of food poisoning which has kept the world No 3 from the course.
McIlroy missed a promotional event on Tuesday and withdrew from Wednesday's pro-am competition after being unable to practice on the range.
"I'm not feeling great to be honest," McIlroy said. "I had something (to eat) a couple of nights ago and yesterday wasn't good at all.
"I thought I would be better this morning, but I had a piece of toast and a couple of bits of melon for breakfast and I came here and tried to hit some balls, but even just making a couple of swings my stomach was too sore.
"I just need another day of rest and hopefully I will be better tomorrow and I can play.
"I was up from about 1am to 4am last night. The night before it didn't start until about 4am, so it hasn't been great."
McIlroy, who finished joint-sixth at the Turkish Airlines Open last week, has been given antibiotics and painkillers for the abdominal pain.
He is scheduled to begin his opening round at the $8.5m event at 2.45am UK time on Thursday alongside American duo Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler.
"I was thinking of trying to play nine holes, but that would probably do me more harm than good. It would be nice to see the golf course before tomorrow, but I've played it a few times," added the 26-year-old.
"I didn't play last year but I know the place well and (my caddie) JP has been out there, so it is better that I rest and get my energy up for tomorrow."
McIlroy, who has finished no worse than sixth in four appearances at the Sheshan Golf Club, leads Danny Willett, Shane Lowry and Louis Oosthuizen in the European Tour's Race to Dubai standings with only three tournaments remaining in the season.
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"It has been a really, really good tournament for me," said McIlroy, who won the WGC-Match Play event in May before an ankle injury forced him out of his British Open title defence in July.
"I've not won it, but I've been close. Hopefully if I can get through the first couple of days and play OK, I'll be feeling a lot better at the weekend and I can make a run at it."
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