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Rory McIlroy could face a fitness race for the Players Championship and The Masters after being forced to withdraw from the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

McIlroy did not make his third round tee time at Bay Hill after suffering back spasms while warming up.

It is the only the third time in the Northern Irishman’s PGA Tour career that he has pulled out mid-tournament, and comes just a week before the season intensifies at TPC Sawgrass.

Beyond that, McIlroy is due to defend his Masters title from 9 April after completing the career grand slam at Augusta last year.

“While warming up in the gym this morning, I felt a small twinge in my back. As I started hitting balls on the range before the round, it worsened and developed into muscle spasms in my lower back,” McIlroy said in a statement to the PGA Tour.

“Unfortunately, I’m not able to continue and have to withdraw. I was excited to compete this weekend. I wish the Arnold Palmer Invitational a great finish and look forward to being back next year.”

It was only the third time McIlroy has been forced to withdraw from a tournament. He left the Nedbank Golf Challenge in 2009 with a flu virus and food poisoning, and he withdrew from the Honda Classic in the middle of the second round in 2013, first citing a sore wisdom tooth and a week later apologizing by saying his head was not in the right place.

Additional reporting by AP