Rory McIlroy snapped his driver on the 9th. Then he almost made a bird.
NBC Sports
It hasn’t been a good week to be one of Rory McIlroy’s iron woods.
On Friday at the BMW Championship, McIlroy took out his frustration with his 3-wood, throwing it into the water after missing the fairway on the 5th 17th before picking it up to continue playing.
On Sunday, there was no further play with his driver after what he did with it.
World No. 3 to the 9th at Castle Pines 4 under for the tournament and 9 shots off the lead when he repeated, as on 17 two days ago, blocked his right shot. He knew immediately as he released one hand from the club and threw it back behind him in frustration.
Rory McIlroy throws the club into the water after missing a shot
Jessica Marksbury
The ball hit the top of the hill and rolled several times over the rocks before settling carelessly above the river on the long par-4.
But that would be the first of his problems at No. 9.
As McIlroy bent to get to his tee, he put too much weight on his driver and the hole broke.
NBC broadcasters initially thought that McIlroy had made a mistake and accidentally broke the club, but when McIlroy made no attempt to close the club, it became clear that McIlroy had broken the club out of anger.
According to Rule 4.1a(2), “if a corresponding club is damaged during a round or while play is suspended under Rule 5.7a, unless it is in violation, the player may repair it or replace it with another club.” “Without charges of abuse” applies here as McIlroy must have admitted that he broke the club in anger, thus preventing his ability to replace it.
But before all that, McIlroy still had to tee off on No. 9. His ball was sitting just above the creek on the right edge, which meant that as a right-hander, he would have to step into the creek to hit it.
He took off his shoes, rolled up his pants legs and went into the stream.
McIlroy waded into the water outside the clubhouse at the start as caddy Harry Diamond stood ready to hand his manager his favorite weapon. McIlroy had a 137-yard drive over the hill and into the wind, meaning landing the ball on the shallow green would be difficult.
Finally, Diamond handed McIlroy the club as the four-time major winner tried to find a place in the moving water. After about 65 seconds, he settled with his lead foot out of the water on a rock and his trailing foot sank into the water.
In the end, McIlroy took a swing, hit hard on the upper body and sent the ball flying. It went down behind the pin, surprising the broadcasters. It finished 27 feet from the hole.
“How about that gun?”
“Really?”
“That should have been in the air for a long time.”
NBC cameras followed McIlroy as he took off his socks, but then he walked up to the green before putting on his shoes.
A few minutes later, the broadcast returned to McIlroy as he stood on the dry ground, feet back in his Nikes, ready to hit a birdie putt.
It was traced in the middle, but stood four inches long.
McIlroy fainted from anger.
“The way a golfer thinks, he’s going to be mad that he didn’t make birdie,” Curt Byrum said.
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