Rory McIlroy’s golf club mishap sums up the nightmarish months of his life

Rory McIlroy’s dismal performance at the Open reached a grim climax when he accidentally hit himself in the face with his club.

McIlroy faced an uphill battle on Thursday, struggling through a challenging round of 78 to dash any hopes of winning his first major title in the last decade.

He continued that pathetic form on Friday, ending another disastrous day at the Open with a preliminary round score of seven over par, along with other elite golfers who put in a similarly lackluster performance.

During his unfortunate second round at the prestigious Royal Troon, McIlroy missed a shot and only managed to hit it five metres from the rough, leading to another embarrassment on the back nine holes.

On the 16th green, the 35-year-old tried to throw his club in the air, but shockingly received a blow to the head from his own golf club instead.

McIlroy was surprisingly unfazed by the bizarre incident and hastily ducked to quickly pick up his dropped club, hoping to put his humiliating mistake behind him as quickly as possible. An alert spectator seized the opportunity by filming the incident on his mobile phone and posting it on social media platform X, reports the Mirror US.

The caption read: “McIlroy tried to throw his club and landed in the mud.”

After missing a risky four-over-par round on Friday that left him with a disappointing 11-over-par total, a vague sense of disappointment was clearly audible in McIlroy’s voice as he reflected on his regrettable inability to cope with the harsh Scottish weather conditions.

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“Although the wind helped on the back nine, it was a lot of left-handed,” he commented. “I was actually surprised at how difficult the back nine was to play. I thought we would have it a little easier than it turned out to be.”

“You have a strategy that you think is going to help you, but when you get a wind that you haven’t played with before, you start thinking about using some clubs that you haven’t played with in practice.

“I just didn’t adapt well enough to the conditions. Bad shots are punished much more severely this week than last week… whether you hit the ball into a fairway bunker or even into the rough.

“The rough… the balls I hit into the rough today, the lies were pretty nasty. I think it was one of the worst rounds I’ve had this year in terms of the way I hit the ball. It wasn’t a nice experience.”

McIlroy struggled on Friday, going 13 over par after 11 holes without a birdie. But he eventually recovered with two birdies to save face – one birdie came with a wonderful chip out of the bunker.

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