Oh Zika: Rory Moves To The "Monitoring" Stage

Ewan Murray of The Guardian on the world No. 3 Rory McIlroy now hedging his pledge to play the Rio Olympic Games, citing the Zika virus.

He writes:

“As it gets closer, I am relishing the thought of going down there and competing for gold,” McIlroy said. “But I have been reading a lot of reports about Zika and there have been some articles coming out saying that it might be worse than they are saying. I have to monitor that situation.

“I am actually going to get my injections on Wednesday. At least I will be immunised for whatever … if I do get bitten by a mosquito down there.”

The news hits a little harder a day after McIlroy's stirring performance in the Irish Open, which stood out on a number of levels, as Charlie Rymer and I kicked around on Morning Drive.

And as Kyle Porter notes at CBSSports.com, a McIlroy WD would be especially painful because he carries the torch for golf internationally like no one else but Tiger.