‘Very weird feeling’: Rory McIlroy explains shot you have to see to believe

Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy raced out to a five-under 67 in the opening round of this week’s 2024 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. But it was a gear incident involving one of McIlroy’s irons that drew questions in his post-round press conference.

McIlroy’s stellar round Thursday put him near the top of the leaderboard at the DP World Tour’s flagship event, but his solid start is more impressive given the fact that he was forced to play without a 9-iron for the several holes.

So what happened? When playing an approach shot on the par-5 12th hole Thursday, McIlroy swung through impact with his 9-iron and then suddenly felt the club’s weight disappear during his follow-through. It turns out that the clubbed of his 9-iron had flown off the shaft at impact.

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“It was just one of those things. I hit 9-iron on the 9th hole, and I looked at it and looked at if the barrel was coming loose, but it was actually the head detaching from the shaft,” McIlroy told reporters after the round. “I obviously didn’t realize that when I hit the shot on 12. Yeah, it was a bit of a weird feeling. I hit, and you know, obviously you’re expecting the weight of the club to just pull through and there was nothing there.”

Incredibly, despite the fact his iron exploded at impact, Rory shared that his shot turned out just as he had planned anyway.

“Thankfully the ball went where I wanted it to,” McIlroy said. “It could have been a lot worse but thankfully got it repaired and it should be okay to go tomorrow.”

That was not the case in the immediate aftermath, though. McIlroy explained that at first the flying clubhead grabbed his attention, so he lost the ball in the air. Unable to track it, he decided to look up toward the green, where he watched his ball fall out of the sky and land near the hole.

“I don’t think it’s ever happened to me before. Obviously a very weird feeling through impact. I looked up and the clubhead caught my eye instead of the golf ball. So I completely lost where the golf ball was. Didn’t know where it went,” he explained. “But I was just looking somewhere around the green and saw the ball fall just right of the pin and go up there and go pretty close. Fortunately, it didn’t impact the shot too much.”

McIlroy also shared that he was able to get the iron repaired and back in his bag by the time he reached the 16th hole, and though he was missing the 9-iron for a while, he “thankfully didn’t need it for any of the holes in between.”

After finding his ball on the 12th green, the World No. 3 was able to two-putt for a birdie-4, improving his score to five under at that point. And the incident didn’t have any lingering effects either, as Rory recorded another birdie at 13.

He’ll head into Friday’s second round with 14 working clubs and within striking distance of the lead.