Rory McIlroy hit his driver on the 9th. Then he nearly made birdie.
NBC Sports
It hasn’t been a good week to be one of Rory McIlroy’s metal woods.
Friday at BMW ChampionshipMcIlroy took his frustrations out on his 3-wood, throwing him into the water after a missed tee shot on the par-5 17th before finally getting it to stay in play.
On Sunday, there was no continuing play with his driver after what he did to him.
The World No. 3 came to the 9th hole at Castle Pines 4 under for the tournament and 9 shots off the lead when he again, as on 17 two days earlier, jammed his tee to the right. He realized as soon as he released one hand from the club and turned it behind him in frustration.
Rory McIlroy drops the ball into the water after missing a putt
Jessica Marksbury
The ball hit a hill and took a few bounces off the rocks before settling precariously over a creek that lines the long par-4.
But that would only be his first problem at number 9.
As McIlroy bent to retrieve his tee, he put too much weight on his driver and the shaft snapped.
NBC broadcasters initially assumed that McIlroy simply made a mistake and broke the club on accident, but when McIlroy never made an attempt to replace the clubit became clear that McIlroy smashed the club in anger.
According to the rule 4.1a(2)“if a conforming club is damaged during a round or when play is stopped under Rule 5.7a, except in cases of abuse, the player may repair it or replace it with another club.” “Except for abuse” applies here as McIlroy must have admitted to breaking the club in anger, thereby impeding 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 bank, meaning that as a right-hander, he would have to go into the creek to hit it. .
He took off his shoes, rolled up his pant legs and waded into the stream.
McIlroy took to the water without a club at the start as caddy Harry Diamond was on hand to hand his boss his weapon of choice. McIlroy had 137 yards up the hill and into the wind, meaning stopping the ball on the shallow green would be difficult.
Eventually, Diamond handed McIlroy a club like four-time major winner tried to find a footing within the flowing water. After about 65 seconds, he landed with his lead leg out of the water on a rock and his trail leg submerged.
Finally, McIlroy took a mostly upper-body swing and sent the ball flying. He landed right behind the pin, stunning the broadcasters. Finished 27 feet from the hole.
“What about that shot?”
“Really?”
“This had to be in the air for a long time.”
NBC cameras continued to follow McIlroy as he slipped on his socks, but then walked up to the green before putting his shoes back on.
A few minutes later, the broadcast switched back 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 with a sigh of frustration.
“The way a golfer thinks, he’ll be mad he didn’t make birdie,” said Curt Byrum.
