Furious Rory McIlroy snaps iron clean in two after missing green in first round of Zozo...

[ASFN Admin]

It is an image working its way around the world and Rory McIlroy will just pray it does not prove the perfect episode to sum up his golfing year. In a fit of rage, Northern Irishman broke his club clean in half in the first round of the Zozo Championship. A fine will be incoming from the PGA Tour, but what will worry him infinitely more is his form with the Masters just three weeks away. McIlroy went into the Los Angeles event talking about ending his 13-month winless run. Yet after a 73 that leaves him nine off the pace at Sherwood Country Club, the world No 5 is simply relieved that the event does not feature a cut. McIlroy has three more rounds to fix the faults. The club technicians, meanwhile, did not have nearly as much time to mend the poor wedge. Following back-to-back birdies, McIlroy had sliced into the trees on the par-four 18th and had been forced to lay up in front of the water. From 140 yards, he then missed the green. He had started well on the 10th but McIlroy had already seen enough. He jammed the neck of the club into the turf and deliberately snapped it. Just to make sure of his ultimate intention, he then completed the break with his hands. McIlroy proceeded to walk up the fairway, with the grip end of the wedge still in his right hand, comically taking a few practice swings with what was left. But make no mistake, inside he was boiling over, and his mood was hardly lifted when that double-bogey led to him standing in a tie for 64th in the 78-man field. Nobody can remember McIlroy reacting with such fury. There was the infamous moment when he hurled a club into the lake during a World Golf Championship event in Miami, but that seems understated compared to this and it highlights where he is with his game, which has not even represented a shadow of itself before lockdown.

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