Rory McIlroy overcame the shock of breaking a membership mid-shot to card a gap 67 within the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, trailing day one chief Matthew Baldwin by two strokes.
On the par-five twelfth, the pinnacle of McIlroy’s 9-iron indifferent from the shaft and flew down the golf green as he struck his second shot. However, regardless of the mishap, the Northern Irishman would card the sixth of his seven birdies moments later.
In an incident-packed first spherical, McIlroy had a run of 4 birdies in a row from holes three by six, putted left-handed at eight, noticed his tee shot at 17 bounce out of the timber after which hit his strategy at 18 out of bounds.
His wayward second at 18 value the 2014 champion his second bogey of the day and, at 5 underneath par, leaves him two behind bogey-free Baldwin on the high of the leaderboard.
McIlroy is in a big grouping tied for fourth that features Robert MacIntyre and Shane Lowry, who additionally carded opening 67s.
Justin Rose is 2 photographs additional off the tempo at three underneath, as is fellow dwelling hope Tommy Fleetwood after a closing run of three birdies in his remaining 4 holes. Defending champion Ryan Fox began with a one-under 71.
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Rory McIlroy talks Sky Sports activities by his shot on the BMW PGA Championship the place he misplaced the pinnacle of his membership however nonetheless ended up making a birdie.
“I don’t think it’s ever happened to me before,” McIlroy stated of the weird incident on the twelfth gap which noticed the pinnacle of his membership come free from the shaft.
“It was a bit of a weird feeling. I hit the ball and obviously you’re expecting the weight of the club to just pull through and there was nothing there.
“Fortunately the ball went the place I needed it to. It might have been loads worse however, fortunately, I obtained it repaired and obtained it again on the sixteenth.”
McIlroy was playing four days after a runner-up finish at the Irish Open to Rasmus Hojgaard, who closed with three straight birdies to deny the local hero a first professional win on home soil.
“The great factor about disappointments is that you’ve one thing on this subsequent week to maintain busy and preserve your thoughts targeted on one thing else,” the 35-year-old stated.
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Rory McIlroy made a formidable begin to the BMW PGA Championship after birdieing 4 consecutive holes throughout his opening spherical at Wentworth.
“It was a bit of rollercoaster round but most of the incidents worked out in my favour so I’m happy about that.
“I’d have taken 5 underneath initially of the day… total, it was spherical of golf, it might have been just a little bit higher however a stable begin.”
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McIlroy’s closing bogey at 18 dropped him out of a share of the then-lead with Niklas Norgaard of Denmark, who’s tied for second with Belgium’s Thomas Detry on six underneath.
Norgaard, who claimed his first DP World Tour title with victory within the British Masters at The Belfry earlier this month, birdied 4 of his final eight holes for a gap 66.
Detry additionally loved a scorching streak down the stretch, birdieing every of the final three holes.
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