Rory McIlroy 'problem' emerges as PGA Tour rival is left screaming in agony
The Valspar Championship is underway, but with several top players absent, attention is already shifting toward the The Masters Tournament. Rory McIlroy is among those sitting out this week as he focuses on defending his green jacket.Following the conclusion of The Players Championship, where Cameron Young claimed victory, the PGA Tour has remained in Florida for the Valspar, which was won last year by Viktor Hovland. Upcoming events include the Houston Open and the Texas Open, before the world’s best head to Augusta National Golf Club.A number of high-profile players have opted to skip this week’s event in an effort to manage their schedules, including Young, McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood and Robert MacIntyre.Ryan Fox left in agonyNew Zealand PGA pro Ryan Fox didn't compete at last week's Players despite practising on Tuesday and Wednesday. He has since revealed the source of the stomach pain that forced him to pull out.Fox told the Herald: "Basically, as soon as I got to the toilet, I knew it wasn't for the toilet. It was one side and pretty intense and yeah, kidney stones. It went from zero to 100 pretty quick there. I was screaming on the floor and saying a few words that I can't repeat. I knew at that point it wasn't very good."The 39-year-old attempted to play on ahead of the competition but after initially ending up in hospital he was forced to return and was admitted for surgery. Fox added: "[I] got to a point where I couldn't deal with it anymore and went back in."They said, 'Okay, at this point you're not going to pass it, we've got to do the procedure and break it up with some lasers and put a stent in for the inflammation.' That happened about lunchtime on Thursday."Obviously, as soon as I went back in on Thursday morning, I knew I wasn't playing and withdrew pretty promptly. From 2pm Wednesday afternoon until about 2pm Thursday after the operation, it wasn't a real fun 24 hours there."Dan Orlovsky's problemAs McIlroy prepares to return to the scene of his Masters win, ESPN's Dan Orlovsky has picked holes in the Northern Irishman's Champions Dinner menu.The reigning champ will offer a menu with 12 items in Georgia, from appetisers to a dessert, including rock-shrimp tempura and main courses like filet mignon or seared salmon. However, Orlovsky was not impressed by the peach-and-ricotta flatbread.On SportsCenter, the analyst said: "Here's my problem with people in the food world. Just make a good cheese pizza flatbread. It doesn't have to be peaches and ricotta. I've got a lot of love for Rory. I'm a huge Rory fan. I love Rory. But peach and ricotta? Just give me a good cheese pizza!"Phil Mickelson's valuable adviceMcIlroy's triumph at Augusta National 12 months ago will live long in the memory and the 36-year-old has this week shed light on a private conversation with Phil Mickelson that aided his win."I played a practice round with Phil Mickelson, maybe, I don't know, 10 or 15 years ago, probably closer to 15 years ago and I always remember he said to me, 'Rory, one of the reasons I love Augusta National is because I feel I can be so aggressive here,'" McIlroy admitted."I remember thinking, 'What does he mean?' I feel the opposite. I feel I can't be aggressive here because there's so many bad places to miss."But Phil had so much - still has, probably, so much faith in his short game that if he does miss an approach shot by being aggressive, he still feels he can get that ball up-and-down."I think, I would say by becoming a better putter and by maybe working on my short game a little bit and becoming better around the greens, that probably allowed me to become more aggressive with my approach play at Augusta."Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? Making us your preferred source on Google means you’ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply click here.Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond
