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BMW PGA Championship: Rory McIlroy Loses Club Head – Cards Birdie Anyway

Rory McIlroy can only laugh about this crazy incident on the first day of the BMW PGA Championship. His iron loses its head when he hits his approach, but the birdie follows anyway.

Rory McIlroy looses his clubhead at the BMW PGA Championship 2024. (Image: Getty)
Rory McIlroy looses his club head at the BMW PGA Championship 2024. (Image: Getty)

In the first round of the BMW PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy was not only able to watch his ball flight. On the 12th hole, McIlroy was still around 170 meters from the green after a promising tee shot. The second shot on this par 5 therefore offered a good chance of an eagle or at least a birdie. So the shot with the 8-iron followed. And off flew the club head. Yes, that’s right, not only did McIlroy’s ball take off in the direction of the green, the club head of the iron also flew a few meters forward.

Crazy Incident for Rory McIlroy

“I’ve never personally seen that happen.” It was probably not only his flight partners Ryan Fox and Justin Rose who had this reaction to this shot, McIlroy can hardly believe it himself. After his shot, the Northern Irishman is amazed when he only has his club shaft in his hands. However, the tour veteran handles the situation calmly, with a few jokes from his caddie and a grinning shake of the head on the way to the green. A pleasant surprise awaited McIlroy there. The shot that was actually doomed to fail was less than 3 meters from the flag. The conclusion of the English commentators that the club head had only flown off after contact with the ball was therefore quite conclusive. In the end it was enough for a birdie, the eagle putt just missed the hole.

After this crazy incident, McIlroy handed the iron to a rules official, who passed the club on to the TaylorMade team. Thanks to fast-curing epoxy resin, they were able to repair the clubs within around 15 minutes and return them to McIlroy.