Rory McIlroy lost the club head on his 9-iron and then lost the lead by going out of bounds on the last hole in shooting an eventful 5-under 67 in the first round of the BMW PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy’s weird year continued on Thursday in the first round of the DP World Tour’s 2024 BMW PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre and Shane Lowry all card opening-round 67s at Wentworth to sit two strokes behind leader Matthew Baldwin on seven under; defending champion Ryan Fox starts with a one-under 71;

England's Matthew Baldwin eclipsed a powerful field to lead the BMW PGA Championship by one stroke after the first round at Wentworth on Thursday.

The No. 3-ranked McIlroy was two strokes off the lead held by No. 363-ranked Matthew Baldwin in the flagship event on the European Tour, having bounced back well from the pain of being denied victory at his home Irish Open last week.

Rory McIlroy once threw his 3-wood in frustration at the 2016 British Open at Royal Troon and broke it, and there was that time at the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral when he angrily threw his club in the lake on the eighth hole, but the club damage that happened on Thursday during the DP World Tour’s BMW Championship was not his fault.

Rory McIlroy unintentionally accomplished something extremely rare on the golf course on Thursday: his 9-iron head broke off during a shot at the BMW PGA Championship.

RELATED: It appears Rory McIlroy had no clue who Tom Holland was. OK, so there’s a LOT going on there. First, the clubhead snaps off at impact, going flying down the fairway. Bu