This is a day Rory McIlroy would rather forget - and so would at least two of his female supporters.
Never mind seeing his three-shot lead overhauled at the BMW PGA Championship, the Irishman watched two of his shots hurtle into spectators, causing both to require medical attention. A marshall was also hit by a ball because of McIlroy’s wayward aim.
As he comforted the woman on the side of the 18th fairway – who by then had her bloodied head wrapped in a bandage – McIlroy must have felt like he was on the set of Casualty, not in the picturesque scenery of Wentworth.
On the sixth, his recovery shot from a bush cannoned into a young lady from short range and she proceeded to wail in agony clutching her hand.
He apologised fulsomely on both occasions, but as there were no shouts of fore on the final hole - or on the 17th, when the crowd was only saved by a steward’s body getting in the way - he predictably came in for some heat on social media.
In all this, the details of his 71 – which was actually extremely valiant considering his erratic play – were overshadowed, as was the fact he is level with Francesco Molinari on 13-under going into the final round.
On the incident at the 18th, McIlroy explained why he kept silent on the tee. “I didn’t think it was going to carry that far,” he said. “It was into the wind and it was 275 [yards] to the bunker with a three-wood so I thought it was going to pitch into the bunker and I didn’t think anyone was in danger. That obviously wasn’t the case.”
Both of these grizzly affairs obviously affected him, but, as he conceded, they also proved advantageous on his scorecard. “I just hope those people are okay. I went over to say sorry to them. There's not much more I can do,” McIlroy said. “Those balls were going deep into the trees or out-of-bounds. I got very fortunate, very fortunate, and I got good bounces off spectators and I made the most of it.”
Indeed he did. He was three-over for his round after six holes and was clearly not swinging it well in the windy conditions. He birdied the final two par fives after his ”breaks”, allowing him to claw back Molinari, the Italian who had stolen a two-shot advantage with his bogeyless magnificence. There are four shots back to the chasing group, including defending champion Alex Noren and Englishman Ross Fisher.
"I'm looking forward to tomorrow (Sunday), but I'll need to play better," McIlroy said. "I scrambled well for the most part and was four-under for the last 12 holes in this wind, which was pretty good. But it wasn't the calibre of golf that I played yesterday (Friday). I need to start hitting more quality shots and put the ball in play and if I can do that, then, you know, it could be a big day."
So much for this being a procession. Lee Westwood suspected it might not be as clear-cut as some imagined. “I figured if the breeze got up Rory might have a chance of dropping a few shots,’ he said. “He scores really well if it’s soft and not a lot of wind. Over the first couple of days it was ideal for him and if it stayed like that it was hard to see him being caught.”
Instead, on eight-under, Westwood has another opportunity to win the trophy that has eluded him in 25 years of trying, with two runners-ups to his name. If it happened now, at the age of 45, it would verge on the remarkable. This is Westwood's second event in 15 rounds and his first since the Houston Open eight weeks ago. In this time he has only played two corporate rounds as well as a few social rounds. “I didn’t expect anything, but I know this place,” Westwood said, after his 69. “I’m an old dog. And I’ve still got the tricks.”