by 
Rory McIlroy split his driver in two as he leaned on it to pick up his tee after slicing a shot near a creek on Sunday. The incident came two days after he threw a club into the water in anger.
This time the breakage appears to be minor – even though he appears to be leaning on the handle with most of his weight – but it serves to sum up another frustrating week for the world No. 3, as the chances of him winning the $25 million FedEx Cup jackpot become increasingly slim.
In all fairness, McIlroy had a much better performance at the BMW Championship in Denver than he had in the PGA Tour’s first playoff match the previous week, where he finished 68th out of 70. Yet after starting the final day in the top 10 at Castle Pines, McIlroy saw his competition slip away when he reached the ninth, having dropped shots on the first and seventh, and birdied the sixth.
His tee shot on the par four was pushed, but despite the shock – or not – of seeing his favourite club snap in two, he played a marvellous shot that required him to take off his shoes and socks to stand in a stream and hit his ball from the bank above.
He managed to find the green and make par, but a hook on the next hole cost him another shot. McIlroy was in pinball mode and holed a 40-foot putt on the 11th, but then made bogey on the 13th.
Since finishing runner-up at the US Open in June – when the Northern Irishman seemed all but certain to win his first major in 10 years until he bogeyed three of the last four holes and effectively handed the title to Bryson DeChambeau – McIlroy has struggled mightily.
He finished fifth at the Olympics, but that was followed by a missed cut at the Royal Troon Open and then a dismal performance at Memphis.
McIlroy still has a chance to win his fourth FedEx Cup next week in Atlanta and believes it would turn a “pretty good year into a really good year.” However, after the last two weeks, that doesn’t seem likely.
