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 The world number three missed a promotional event on Tuesday and
withdrew from Wednesday's pro-am competition after being unable to
hit balls on the practice range.
"I’m not feeling great to be honest," McIlroy said. "I had something
(to eat) a couple of nights ago and yesterday wasn’t good at all.
"I thought I would be better this morning, but I had a piece of
toast and a couple of bits of melon for breakfast and I came here
and tried to hit some balls, but even just making a couple of swings
my stomach was too sore.
"I just need another day of rest and hopefully I will be better
tomorrow and I can play.
"I was up from about 1am to 4am last night. The night before it
didn’t start until about 4am, so it hasn’t been great."
McIlroy, who finished tied sixth at the Turkish Airlines Open last
week, said he had been given antibiotics and painkillers for the
abdominal pain.
The four-times major winner is scheduled to begin his opening round
at 1045 AM local time (0245 GMT) on Thursday with American duo
Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler at the $8.5 million event.
"I was thinking of trying to play nine holes, but that would
probably do me more harm than good. It would be nice to see the golf
course before tomorrow, but I’ve played it a few times," the
26-year-old said.
"I didn’t play last year but I know the place well and (my caddie)
JP has been out there, so it is better that I rest and get my energy
up for tomorrow."
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McIlroy leads England's Danny Willett, Irishman Shane Lowry and
South African Louis Oosthuizen in the European Tour's Race to Dubai
standings with only three tournaments remaining in the season.
McIlroy will be keen to play this week in a tournament which has
yielded him good results in the past. The Northern Irishman
finishing no worse than sixth in his four appearances at the Sheshan
Golf Club.
"It has been a really, really good tournament for me," said McIlroy,
who won the WGC-Match Play event in May before an ankle injury
forced him out of his British Open title defense in July.
"I’ve not won it, but I’ve been close. Hopefully if I can get
through the first couple of days and play OK, I’ll be feeling a lot
better at the weekend and I can make a run at it."
(Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; editing by Amlan
Chakraborty)
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