All quiet on the West Course front? No chance. It was all action in round one of the BMW PGA Championship at sun-soaked Wentworth.
A lot of that eye-catching activity was provided by Rory McIlroy who packed so much into an eventful five-under 67, he was almost hit with an excess baggage charge in the recording hut.
As for the Scots? Well, Robert MacIntyre found himself in familiar territory at the sharp end of affairs as he made hay while that big fiery orb up in the sky shone with a 67 of his own.
Grant Forrest, meanwhile, was on course to be even better as he raced to the turn in 29 and barged his way to the top of the leaderboard.
A galling double-bogey seven on the last, however, was as hard to swallow as a spoonful of cod liver oil and he slithered back to four-under.
As Southport’s Matthew Baldwin finished at the head of the field with a tidy 65, McIlroy, the champion in this parish a decade ago, certainly gave the vast galleries their money’s worth with his eclectic exhibition.
The 35-year-old had to hit a left-handed putt on the eighth, saw his tee-shot on 17 ricochet out of the trees and then hoiked his second at the 18th out of bounds.
Just for good measure, McIlroy, who was pipped to the Irish Open title last Sunday, watched in disbelief as the head of his 9-iron flew off as he struck an approach into the 12th. Amazingly, his ball landed six-feet from the flag.
“I don’t think it’s ever happened to me before,” McIlroy said of his broken stick. “I hit 9-iron on the ninth hole and it looked as if the ferrule was coming loose, but it was actually the head detaching from the shaft.
“I didn’t realise that when I hit the shot on 12. 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 but there was nothing there.
“Thankfully the ball went where I wanted it to. It could have been a lot worse but I got it repaired and got it back on the 16th. It was a bit of a rollercoaster round.”
Forrest was coasting along as he continued the fine form that swept him to a share of fifth in last weekend’s Irish Open.
A terrific six-under outward half was illuminated by a mighty eagle putt of 50-feet on the fourth but the 31-year-old’s day would end on a sour note.
Forrest found the fairway bunker off the 18th tee, put his second into another bunker then plunged his third into the water hazard.
When he finally trudged off the green, the Scot had scribbled a grisly seven onto his card amid much teeth-grinding and muttering.
Forrest’s compatriot, MacIntyre, enjoyed a more uplifting finale to his round.
A birdie putt of almost 30-feet on the 16th was followed by another gain on the 17th as the reigning Scottish Open champion made a sturdy start to his bid to add the DP World Tour’s flagship title to his collection.
“Solid,” was MacIntyre’s simple assessment. “There were a couple of errors but my short game saved me when I needed it to. Look, 67 is a great start.”
It was an even better start from frontrunner Baldwin as he posted a bogey-free 65.
The 38-year-old, who has chipped away at the tour coalface for many seasons, finally made his breakthrough in South Africa last year.
The star-studded Wentworth stage is a different beast and Baldwin was happy with the way he handled the big arena.
“That’s a rarity for me to be fair, my thoughts are usually running wild,” admitted Baldwin of a tendency to let his focus drift. “It’s something that I’m trying to work on. This was lovely though.
“I feel like my game has been pretty strong for a while, so to put in a performance like this was a nice positive.”
At the end of an opening day of low scoring in leafy Surrey, Baldwin held a one-shot lead over British Masters winner Niklas Norgaard and Belgium’s Thomas Detry.
MacIntyre and McIlroy’s 67s were matched by the 2022 BMW PGA champion Shane Lowry, while another former winner, Danny Willett, opened with a 68.
Calum Hill was the next best Scot after MacIntyre and Forrest on two-under with Richie Ramsay, David Law and Ewen Ferguson all back on one-under.
