It seems Rory McIlroy may be under some stress with the Masters just over a month away. The World Number One pulled his approach shot at the par-five 8th hole at the Cadillac Championships straight into the lake.But it wasn’t just the ball which was sent to a watery grave as the Northern Irishman then sent his 3-iron in the same direction.
McIlroy, who went on to card a bogey on the hole, said: “It felt good at the time but now I regret it. Frustration got the better of me.
"Following on from last week, I feel like it's very close and to hit shots like that you get frustrated, but I shouldn't have done what I did."
But just when he thought he would have to tackle the final round at Doral without his 3-iron, course owner Donald Trump sent a scuba diver into the lake to retrieve it.
Trump, who instigated the changes to the Blue Monster course, then handed the club back to McIlroy on the range.
“I don't usually go out and get scuba to collect too many of them, including mine. But it was a beautiful moment. He did it with elegance. He wasn't a wild man. He did it very gently, just very beautiful. So we're going to do one or the other, either charity or mount it.
“Look, he's a great star, he's a great athlete, a great player. Anything he does is news. It's not like him, but again he did it with great style. I said, It was a great thing that you did it, because it shows a certain human touch. He's a fantastic person."
It was a seventh win for Thongchai Jaidee after he held off Graeme Storm in Germany to become just the second Asian player – the first was Isao Aoki at Sunningdale in 1983 – to capture the European Open.
