Rory McIlroy's injury cuts PGA Championship practice round short

The grand slam winner has been nursing a blister on his pinky toe, one that has resulted in the nail being removed. While McIlroy played the injury down on Monday, it is perhaps a bigger issue than he suspected.

ESPN reports that McIlroy took off his shoe multiple times during those three practice holes at Aronimink Golf Club before calling it a day on the fourth teebox where a buggy came to fetch him.

It remains to be seen if he will do any more practice around Aronimink before he tees off alongside Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm on Thursday morning.

Despite the physical hiccup, McIlroy feels he is in a better place mentally than this time last year when he was coming down from the high of finally winning the Masters.

"I think I came into this tournament last year a little bit sort of uncertain of what my future was," he told the press.

"Just like I conquered this thing that I wanted to conquer for so long, and I still hadn't really reset goals or found whatever that motivation was to keep going or go forward and set myself goals for the rest of my career.

"Coming into this tournament feels a lot different than what it did last year. I feel like I've got some nice clear road ahead to try to get some more of these majors."