It was a strange mishap, fortunately without consequences, that happened to Rory McIlroy this Thursday in the first round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. The Northern Irishman and the commentators had never seen anything like it!
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Neither had the spectators or TV viewers! On a very high-speed tee shot, the driver head sometimes comes off the shaft, but more rarely, if ever, with an iron.
McIlory, video
Yet this is what happened this Thursday at Wentworth in the 3rd Rolex Series of the DP World Tour season, with world number 3 Rory McIlroy in the lead role.
On the second shot of the 12th, to his great surprise, the Northern Irishman saw the head of his 8 iron fly away after impact. The craziest thing about this story is that the ball ended its journey just under two metres from the hole.
He was born in Holywood, Northern Ireland, where he attended Sullivan Upper School.
He belongs to the Holywood Golf Club, where he began his first training sessions followed by Michael Bannon, a coach he has retained until today. McIlroy was part of the winning team of the Junior Ryder Cup in 2004, while in 2005 he became the youngest winner of both Irish tournaments, the West of Ireland Championship and the Irish Close Championship.
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Also in 2005, at the North of Ireland Championship, played at The Royal Portrush, he broke the course record with a 61 at the age of 16, a record still unbeaten in 2019 at the occasion of The Open Championship, played at The Royal Portrush.
In August 2006, he won the European Amateur Championship at the Golf Club Le Betulle in Biella, Piedmont, with a score of 274 (65-69-72-68), 3 less than Englishman Lewton Stephen. In October 2006, he represented Ireland in the Eisenhower Trophy and the Amateur World Team Championship.
On February 6, 2007, he became the second man to lead the World Amateur Golf Rankings, although he lost the lead after just one week. McIlroy shot an opening round of 68, 3 under par, at the 2007 Open Championship at Carnoustie, which put him in provisional third place, three shots off the leader.
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In the same opening round, he was also the only player in the field to finish without a single bogey. He shot 5 over par in the second round to take him to +2 overall, but still earned a third-round cut. He finished 2 over par in the third round and 1 over par in the fourth round to finish in 42nd place, the best amateur.
McIlroy was part of the Great Britain & Ireland team at the 2007 Walker Cup. His first appearance on the European Tour came at the 2005 British Masters, a few days after turning 16. He made the cut for the first time on a European Tour at the age of 17, at the 2007 Dubai Desert Classic, where he also had to forfeit the 7,600 prize because of his amateur status.
