Rory McIlroy snaps driver, then nearly pulls off the unthinkable

It hasn’t been a good week to be one of Rory McIlroy’s metal woods.

On Friday at the BMW Championship, McIlroy let his frustrations out on his 3-wood, sheepishly tossing it into the water after a missed fairway on the par-5 17th before ultimately fetching it to continue play.

Sunday, there was no continuing play with his driver after what he did with it.

The World No. 3 came to the 9th hole at Castle Pines at four under for the tournament and a distant 9 shots off the lead when he again, just like on 17 two days before, blocked his tee shot out to the right. He knew immediately as he released one hand off the club and swung it back behind him in frustration.

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The ball hit up on a hillside and took several bounces off the rocks before settling precariously above a creek that lines the long par-4.

But that would just be the first of his problems on No. 9.

As McIlroy bent down to get his tee, he put too much of his weight on his driver and the shaft snapped.

The NBC broadcasters initially assumed McIlroy simply made a mistake and broke the club on accident, but when McIlroy never made an attempt to replace the club, it became clear McIlroy broke the club out of anger.

According to rule 4.1a(2), “if a conforming club is damaged during a round or while play is stopped under Rule 5.7a, except in cases of abuse, the player may repair it or replace it with another club.” The “except in cases of abuse” applies here as McIlroy must have admitted to breaking the club in anger, thus thwarting his ability to replace it.

But before all of that, McIlroy still had to play in No. 9. His ball was sitting just barely above the stream on the right bank, meaning as a right-hander, he’d have to go in the creek to hit it.

He removed his shoes, rolled up his pant legs and stepped into the stream.

McIlroy went into the water without a club at first as caddie Harry Diamond stood at the ready to give his boss his weapon of choice. McIlroy had 137 yards up the hill and downwind, meaning stopping the ball on the shallow green would be difficult.

Eventually, Diamond handed McIlroy a club as the four-time major winner tried to find a footing within the running water. After roughly 65 seconds, he settled with his lead foot out of the water on a rock and his trail foot submerged.

Finally, McIlroy took a swing, mostly driven from the upper body and sent the ball flying. It came down right behind the pin, stunning the broadcasters. It finished 27 feet from the hole.

“How about that shot?”

“Really?”

“That had to be up in the air a long time.”

NBC’s cameras kept following McIlroy as he slipped his socks back on, but then walked up toward the green before putting his shoes back on.

A few minutes later, the broadcast returned to McIlroy as he stood on dry land, feet back in his Nikes, ready to hit the birdie putt.

It tracked right in the center, but stopped four inches short.

McIlroy collapsed in a sigh of frustration.

“The way a golfer thinks, he’s going to be mad he didn’t make birdie,” said Curt Byrum.