Rory McIlroy Makes One Of Luckiest Pars In Golf History With Help From Some Rocks, Bridge

Rory McIlroy fired a 1-under 71 during Thursday's opening round of the DP World Tour Championship, but it wasn't your run-of-the-mill 18 holes of golf, it was an absolute journey.

On the 13th hole, McIlroy was given free relief after hitting a shot that ended up finding a female fan's lap. He hit a ball that literally settled in the lap of a woman, and that wasn't the wildest thing to happen during the round.

McIlroy wasn't able to save par after taking his drop from the fan's lap and ended up carding what was his second consecutive bogey, but his luck certainly flipped for the better on the Par 5 18th.

The hole began with McIlroy blocking his tee shot well right into a hazard. Luckily, there were rocks inside said hazard, and his ball ricocheted off of one back into play and nestled in some pine straw. That would end up being just the second most-lucky shot of his on the hole.

With his second shot, McIlroy got overly aggressive and found the hazard in front of the green. Yet again, his ball found one of the rocks in the water and bounced out. This time his ball bounced back onto the nearby walking bridge before rolling off of it and into the grass.

The announcers were rightfully stunned after witnessing back-to-back incredibly lucky shots.

McIlroy's ball was still technically in the penalty area after rolling just off of the bridge so he couldn't take free relief, but it turned out he didn't need it. He knocked his third shot onto the green and two-putted to make comfortable par on the finishing hole.

Maybe these two lucky breaks are signs from the golfing gods that his surprise decision to resign from the PGA Tour policy board was the right move. A few lucky breaks like that throughout the upcoming season and it could end up being quite the 2024 for the four-time major winner.

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