Officials offer explanation as Rory McIlroy gets lucky ruling at Wentworth

Rory McIlroy has enjoyed a lightning start to the 2026 BMW PGA Championship - aided by a lucky ruling on his fifth hole.

McIlroy, starting on the ninth at Wentworth this morning, made the turn at the top of the leaderboard after racing to five-under-par.

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He enjoyed five birdies and no dropped shots in his opening ten holes but it appeared he’d make at least a bogey on the par-3 14th.

On the 179-yard uphill hole, McIlroy pushed his tee shot way left with his ball eventually nestling up against the out-of-bounds fencing.

It appeared that he would be forced to take a drop before he called in the officials.

His ball had come to rest on a narrow strip of grass between the cart path and the hedges lining the left boundary of the course.

Moving his ball would usually cost him a stroke as the hedges are not a movable object.

But as a temporary fence has been erected in front of the greenery, the relief area has been extended.

McIlroy could not take a normal back swing from the fence if he had played it right-handed and would have been on the path if he had played it left-handed so got free relief.

As confirmed by tournament bosses to Sky Sports, the ruling stated: “It was relief from the path and as it’s such a tight gap between the fencing and path, they have widened the relief area to include some of the grass.”

Once the drop decision was sorted, McIlroy produced a fine chip onto the green before saving his par.

It was a lucky break for the Grand Slam champion who took full advantage to race up the leaderboard.

His brilliant start comes a day after McIlroy shot a round of 60 in the BMW PGA pro-am on Wednesday.

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While the record round will be unofficial in the history books, McIlroy is clearly feeling very comfortable at Wentworth. 

The Northern Irishman, who won the flagship tournament in 2014, recently moved to the Surrey estate and can sleep in his own bed this week.

A win for McIlroy on Sunday would see him take the lead in the Race to Dubai standings as he eyes a record-breaking eighth title.

Patrick Reed, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour this season, currently holds top spot but there are plenty of points on offer at Wentworth.

“I'd love to give myself a chance again,” McIlroy added. “Last week (at the Irish Open) wasn't a great week for me in terms of the overall points. Patrick had a good week, and I didn't have such a great week.

“I'm certainly motivated to play well for the rest of the year.

"Still working on some things in my swing, so just trying to have a balance between still keeping an eye on that but trying to play my best golf and give myself some chances to win.

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“I think you always need an objective or a slightly longer term goal to then structure your practice and inform what you're going to do.

"I think if there's no real plan in place, you can get almost too curious and go down too many different avenues when looking on ways to improve.

“But I think if you have a clear goal or goals in mind, I think it makes everything – it would be hard if you're practising and not really able to quantify if you're moving towards that goal or if you're getting further away from it.

"So I think that's why – and I've always been a bit of a goal-setter anyway.”