The Masters: Rory McIlroy reveals elbow issue heading to Augusta National despite strong finish to Houston Open

Rory McIlroy is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour in 2025; McIlroy is looking to win The Masters in April to complete the career Grand Slam; world No 2 finished tied-fifth in Houston, as Scottie Scheffler ended runner-up to Min Woo Lee

Rory McIlroy admits he has “stuff to work on” ahead of The Masters and has revealed an injury issue was “bothering” him during the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

McIlroy featured in Houston for the first time since 2014 in his final PGA Tour event ahead of The Masters, where he looks to claim his fifth major title and the victory required to complete the career Grand Slam.

The Northern Irishman takes a tied-fifth finish into the opening major of the year, live from April 10-13 on Sky Sports, with McIlroy set to work with long-time coach Michael Bannon and consider treatment on his right elbow before The Masters.

“My right elbow has been bothering me a little bit so I’ll maybe just get some treatment on that and make sure that is OK going into Augusta,” McIlroy told the Golf Channel.

“I’ve got my coach Michael Bannon coming in tomorrow [Monday], we’ll do some work and make sure everything is in good shape for a week’s time.”

The world No 2 is already a two-time PGA Tour winner this season and recovered from an opening-round 70 on Thursday to improve his score over each of the next three days, with McIlroy threatening a Sunday charge during his final-round 64.

McIlroy said after his third round that he had not seen improvement off the tee how he hoped, leading to him reducing the loft on his driver and resulting in him finishing second in the strokes-gained-off-the-tee stats during the final day.

“The last three days were really good,” McIlroy explained. “I went to the range and took the loft off a little bit and definitely drove the ball better today. That was a positive, as was seeing some putts go in.

“As I went on during the week I got better and better, as the scores suggest. It was a good week. Still stuff to work on but overall a solid week, and now have another week to get ready and fine-tune my game heading to Augusta.”

McIlroy briefly went from nine behind after a three-putt bogey on the first to within three of the lead, following an eagle and five birdies in a nine-hole stretch, before eventually finishing five strokes back as Min Woo Lee claimed a one-shot victory.