Rory McIlroy’s 9-iron broke mid-swing on Thursday on the 2024 BMW PGA Championship.
Richard Heathcote/Getty Photos
4-time main champion Rory McIlroy raced out to a five-under 67 within the opening spherical of this week’s 2024 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. However it was a gear incident involving one in every of McIlroy’s irons that drew questions in his post-round press convention.
McIlroy’s stellar spherical Thursday put him close to the highest of the leaderboard on the DP World Tour’s flagship occasion, however his stable begin is extra spectacular given the truth that he was compelled to play with out a 9-iron for the a number of holes.
So what occurred? When taking part in an method shot on the par-5 twelfth gap Thursday, McIlroy swung by affect together with his 9-iron after which immediately felt the membership’s weight disappear throughout his follow-through. It seems that the clubbed of his 9-iron had flown off the shaft at affect.
Rory McIlroy’s newest heartbreak got here in acquainted trend
“It was simply a kind of issues. I hit 9-iron on the ninth gap, and I checked out it and checked out if the barrel was coming unfastened, however it was really the top detaching from the shaft,” McIlroy instructed reporters after the spherical. “I clearly didn’t understand that once I hit the shot on 12. Yeah, it was a little bit of a bizarre feeling. I hit, and you understand, clearly you’re anticipating the burden of the membership to simply pull by and there was nothing there.”
Extremely, regardless of the very fact his iron exploded at affect, Rory shared that his shot turned out simply as he had deliberate anyway.
“Fortunately the ball went the place I wished it to,” McIlroy mentioned. “It might have been lots worse however fortunately obtained it repaired and it must be okay to go tomorrow.”
That was not the case within the quick aftermath, although. McIlroy defined that in the first place the flying clubhead grabbed his consideration, so he misplaced the ball within the air. Unable to trace it, he determined to lookup towards the inexperienced, the place he watched his ball fall out of the sky and land close to the opening.
“I don’t assume it’s ever occurred to me earlier than. Clearly a really bizarre feeling by affect. I regarded up and the clubhead caught my eye as an alternative of the golf ball. So I utterly misplaced the place the golf ball was. Didn’t know the place it went,” he defined. “However I used to be simply trying someplace across the inexperienced and noticed the ball fall good of the pin and go up there and go fairly shut. Thankfully, it didn’t affect the shot an excessive amount of.”
McIlroy additionally shared that he was in a position to get the iron repaired and again in his bag by the point he reached the sixteenth gap, and although he was lacking the 9-iron for some time, he “fortunately didn’t want it for any of the holes in between.”
After discovering his ball on the twelfth inexperienced, the World No. 3 was in a position to two-putt for a birdie-4, enhancing his rating to 5 beneath at that time. And the incident didn’t have any lingering results both, as Rory recorded one other birdie at 13.
He’ll head into Friday’s second spherical with 14 working golf equipment and inside hanging distance of the lead.
