Rory McIlroy's club head flew down the fairway in the opening round of his bid for glory at the BMW PGA Championship, and Matt Fitzpatrick took the Northern Irishman's misfortune as a chance to needle the PGA Tour.

Former US Open champion Fitzpatrick was left fuming back in August when rules officials at the BMW Championship did not let him replace his cracked driver due to 'insufficient damage'. "It's an absolute disgrace," said the furious Englishman before going on to finish in a tie for 28th place.

Reacting to a video of McIlroy's unfortunate club head detachment on the par-five ninth on X, Fitzpatrick slyly joked: "Not sure that's significant enough damage to be replaced... @PGATOUR [crying laughing emoji]."

Though his club head was long gone by the time the ball landed, McIlroy's miraculous shot somehow landed within 10 feet of the pin. "I don't think it's ever happened to me before," he said.

"It was a bit of a weird feeling. I hit the ball and obviously you're expecting the weight of the club to just pull through and there was nothing there. Thankfully the ball went where I wanted it to. It could have been a lot worse but, thankfully, I got it repaired and got it back on the 16th."

McIlroy was desperate for a strong performance in his opening round at Wentworth, having suffered the heartbreak of a near-miss at the Irish Open last weekend.

He was within touching distance of his first professional triumph on home soil, but Rasmus Hojgaard miraculously closed out his final round with three consecutive birdies to demote McIlroy to second place.

The 35-year-old responded well on Thursday, carding a five-under 67 to sit fourth at the end of the day, two shots behind leader Matthew Baldwin. Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, finished even par and tied for 75th.

Fitzpatrick has struggled for form of late, having fallen short of the top 10 in each of his last seven tournaments. He is currently ranked 28th in the world, having reached as high as sixth in 2023.

The Sheffield-born hopeful is not among the favourites to clinch the title at the BMW PGA this weekend but McIlroy is, having finished second, ninth and 11th in his last three tournaments.