Matt Fitzpatrick takes dig at PGA Tour’s decision on replacing Rory McIlroy's broken club head

Rory McIlroy is currently playing the 2024 BMW PGA Championship, and is in T4 after round 1. However, a freak incident on the 12th hole saw McIlroy lose his club head as it broke off from his shaft.

Rory McIlroy took an aggressive shot while teeing off, and to everyone's surprise, his club head completely detached from the shaft. Despite the incident, his shot was accurate and he managed to post a score of 5 under 67 to end his day.

He was able to repair his club and have it working by the 16th hole once again. Matt Fitzpatrick replied to McIlroy's video on X, taking a dig at the PGA Tour officials over allowing him to repair the club.

In an X post, Fitzpatrick said:

"Not sure that’s significant enough damage to be replaced…. @PGATOUR"

Earlier this year, Fitzpatrick was unable to replace his cracked driver at the BMW Championship. The officials decided that his driver was not damaged enough to be replaced mid-tournament, forcing Fitzpatrick to play with the cracked driver for the rest of the tournament.

Speaking about the verdict, Fitzpatrick was clearly distressed (via Golf Digest):

“This is outrageous. It’s an absolute joke. There’s an obvious crack there, that’s causing a defect of the ball flight. . . . So, I’m going to have to use 3-wood the rest of the day?”

Fitzpatrick took a jibe and called out the difference between the rulings of the PGA Tour officials over Rory McIlroy's 'broken' club head.

2024 BMW PGA Championship round 1 leaderboard ft. Rory McIlroy explored

Following is the leaderboard of the top golfers after day 1 of the 2024 BMW PGA Championship:

1 Matthew Baldwin
T2 Niklas Norgaard
T2 Thomas Detry
T4 Matteo Manassero
T4 Robert MacIntyre
T4 Shane Lowry
T4 Rory McIlroy
T4 Victor Perez
T4 Ugo Coussaud
T4 Jeong weon Ko
T4 Andy Sullivan
T4 Billy Horschel
T4 Dan Bradbury
T4 Marcus Armitage
15 Mark Power
T16 Guido Migliozzi
T16 Eddie Pepperell
T18 Jordan Smith
T18 Jorge Campillo
T18 Laurie Canter
T18 Sami Valimaki
T18 Hennie du Plessis
T18 Connor Syme
T24 Calum Hill
T24 Marcel Schneider
T24 Francesco Laporta
T24 Jordan Fischer
T28 Yannik Paul
T28 Thorbjorn Olesen
T28 Adrian Meronk
T28 Matt Wallace
T28 Aaron Rai
T28 Luke Donald
T28 Grant Forrest
T28 Marcus Kinhult
T36 Johannes Veerman
T36 Richard Mansell
T36 Adrian Otaegui
T36 Rafa Cabrera Bello
T36 Oliver Wilson
T36 Kazuki Higa
T42 Brandon Stone
T42 Pablo Larrazabal
T42 Dale Whitnell
T42 Matthieu Pavon
T46 Jorge Fernandez-Valdes
T46 Adrian Saddier
T46 Nacho Elvira
T49 Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez
T49 Santiago Tarrio
T49 Gavin Green
T49 Romain Langasque
T53 Jens Dantorp
T53 Alexander Bjork
T53 Marcel Siem
T56 Matthieu Decottignies Lafon
T56 Jack Senior
T56 Robin Sciot-Siegrist
T59 Santiago Gavino
T59 Andrea Pavan

About the author

Saivee is a Golf Content Specialist and journalist at Sportskeeda and has been in the field for nearly 4 years now. Having been a sportsperson from her childhood, she leaped into the world of golf journalism due to her interest in the sport and the paucity of writers covering golf in India.

She stays up to date with all major developments in golf by tracking reputed publishing houses and social media accounts, along with watching as many tournaments as possible, and only uses these sources for information in her articles.

Saivee takes pride in being adaptable to the type of story she covers. She also ensures her research on topics is thorough before she begins writing, which elevates the quality of her articles and has helped her garner close to 1.5 million views on Sportskeeda in less than a year.

Saivee’s favorite golfer is Brooks Koepka due to his engaging gameplay, while she also admires Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Aberg and Celine Boutier. When she isn’t researching or writing about golf, she spends her time painting and is currently pursuing a degree in Business Analytics.

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Edited by Luke Koshi