Rory McIlroy ruled out of action until late February

Rory McIlroy’s stress fracture to his ribs has forced the world number two to withdraw from next week’s Dubai Desert Classic, with the 27-year-old Northern Irishman – who sustained the injury testing out new clubs over the winter – expected to make a competitive return to action at next month’s Honda Classic on the PGA Tour.

Having finished runner-up to Graeme Storm in the South African Open, playing with strapping around his torso and with the aid of anti-inflammatories, McIlroy subsequently underwent an MRI scan in Dubai last week which identified his injury as a stress fracture.

He withdrew from last week’s Abu Dhabi championship and has now also withdrawn from the Desert Classic, a tournament close to his heart as he made his professional debut there in 2009.

Medical opinion had estimated up to six weeks recovery for a stress fracture to the ribs, which ties in with McIlroy’s new anticipated return to play at the Honda Classic at Palm Beach on February 23-26.

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This is the second injury setback McIlroy has suffered in his career, following ankle ligament damage in 2015 when playing football with friends which meant he was unable to defend his British Open at St Andrews that year.

McIlroy had never intended to play in this week’s Qatar Masters, where Graeme McDowell and Paul Dunne are the only two Irishmen in the field.

First appearances

In fact, there is a stronger Irish presence on the PGA Tour this week with Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry making their first appearances of the year at the Famers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines where Séamus Power is also playing.

At the time of Harrington’s victory in the Portugal Masters on the European Tour last October, the Dubliner couldn’t have entirely foreseen how it would affect his scheduling on the US Tour; rather than play a number of early events on the PGA Tour’s wraparound 2016/’17 season as planned, Harrington opted to focus on the run-in to the Race to Dubai instead.

Now, though, the 45-year-old three-time Major champion – coming off a long winter break – resumes competitive play at Torrey Pines is playing a game of catch-up on his peers stateside.

Whilst some players have already marked up eight tournaments on their playing itinerary, and his Olympic partner Power has played in seven, this tournament, which also marks the full return of Tiger Woods to competition following back surgery, will be Harrington's first outing of the season.

For Harrington, starting late on his US commitments, the reality is that much of his time will be spent stateside for the first half of the year. “

I am not playing an event in Europe until the Irish Open in July,” said Harrington, who needs to play 15 times on the PGA Tour to fulfil his membership obligations.

That fact he is not yet into the Masters, the US Open or the WGC events – in Mexico and the Dell Matchplay – means he has to put an increased emphasis on making up the numbers, with the aim to do so by the Wyndham in August.

Lowry, is not under the same pressures as Harrington. The Offalyman is into the Masters and the US Open as well as the WGCs, and with a first baby due in late February, can map out a schedule to suit himself.

Harrington and Lowry are starting a run of tournaments with the Farmers Insurance at Torrey Pines that will also take in next week’s Phoenix Open and the following week’s Pebble Beach pro-am.

Power, though, has hit the ground running in his rookie season on the PGA Tour and the Waterford man’s tied-21st finish in the CareerBuilder Challenge moved him up from 109th to 84th in the FedEx Cup standings. Power is adopting an approach of playing as much and as often as he can in his rookie year.