Rory McIlroy overcame being forced to putt left handed and watching the head of a club fly off to get off to an adventurous start and match Shane Lowry with an opening 67 in the BMW PGA at Wentworth.

Lowry continued his love affair with the Burma Road layout as he made an eagle and four birdies, rolling in a five footer at the last to join McIlroy in tie for third with Ugo Coussaud, Victor Perez, Robert MacIntyre and Matteo Manassero, just one shot behind early leader Niklas Norgaard of Denmark on five-under

The Holywood star was disappointed to hit his second shot out of bounds at the 18th and finish with a bogey six after overcoming being forced to putt left handed at the eighth and watching the head of his nine iron fly off at the par-five 12th.

“I hit a lot of quality shots, holed some nice putts,” McIlroy said of his action-packed opening round.

“The back nine was playing pretty tough just as the wind was getting up, especially that stretch from 13 through 17. I’m disappointed about the last but overall it’s a solid start.”

He added: “I would have taken five-under at the start of the day, especially as the wind is getting up here. But the closing stretch is playing pretty tough. Played well. Bit of a continuation of what I was feeling last week.”

As for the incident at the 12th, he said: “Yeah, it was just one of those things. I hit 9-iron on the ninth hole, and I looked at it and looked at if the barrel was coming loose, but it was actually the head detaching from the shaft.

“Yeah, I obviously didn't realise that when I hit the shot on 12. Yeah, it was a bit of a weird feeling. I hit, and you know, obviously you're expecting the weight of the club to just pull through and there was nothing there.

“Thankfully the ball went where I wanted it to. It could have been a lot worse but thankfully got it repaired and it should be okay to go tomorrow.”

The world number three, who is bidding to bounce back from his runner up finish in the Amgen Irish Open on Sunday with a second triumph at DP World Tour HQ, got off to a flying start by reeling off four birdies in a row from the third.

He missed a three footer for par at the seventh, then scrambled a par four at the eighth, where a poor wedge shot finished inches from the pond on the left, forcing him to putt left handed using the back of his mallet putter.

He came up seven feet short with his improvised 40 footer from the fringe but rolled in his par putt before holing a 25 footer from the fringe at the ninth to turn in four-under 31.

“Yeah, hopefully no more left-handed this week,” he said. “It was up against the sort of collar there where that water hazard is on the 8th hole, and didn't really have a stance hitting it right-handed.

“Hit a left-handed putt. Did a decent job. At least I got the speed pretty much correct. I didn't get the line right, but knocked that one in, made par and very swiftly moved to the 9th tee, pretty happy.”

He then made a bizarre birdie four at the par-five 12th, where the head of his  nine iron flew off after he ripped a 178-yard approach to just seven feet.

“I don't think it's ever happened to me before,” he said. “Obviously a very weird feeling through impact. I looked up and the club head caught my eye instead of the golf ball. So I completely lost where the golf ball was. Didn't know where it went.

“But I was just looking somewhere around the green and saw the ball fall just right of the pin and go up there and go pretty close. Fortunately, it didn't impact the shot too much. But I got it repaired and had it back on 16. Thankfully didn't need it for any of the holes in between.”

He missed the eagle putt but after tapping in for his sixth birdie of the day, he made a 40 footer for another birdie at the 13th to share the lead on six-under.

But he suffered a erratic finish by finishing par-bogey at the par-five 17th and 18th.

He did well to par the 602-yard 17th after snap hooking a driver just 237 yards into the left rough then finished with a bogey six after hitting a 250 yard long iron out of bounds right.

“Yeah, pleased with it,” McIlroy said. “Maybe could have been a little bit better but really solid start. It's a golf course where you've got a lot of birdieable holes but then this was a stretch, especially today on the back nine where you had some tough ones in a row, and trying to navigate those is important.

“So yeah, overall, probably a fair reflection of how I played. Hopefully go out tomorrow and shoot something similar, a little lower, and have a real chance going into the weekend.”

Lowry birdied the par-five fourth before following a birdie at the 11th with an eagle three from 25 feet at the 12th.

But after missing a four footer for par at the par-three 13th, the Offaly man made a two from similar distance at the 157-yard 14th to move to four-under before making a five footer at the 18th to join McIlroy on five-under.

The Clara man was happy with his 67 even if he’d prefer to have a bigger advantage over McIlroy.

“Yeah, I'm pretty happy,” Lowry said. “To be honest I feel like Thursday came around quick this week. When the alarm went off at 5.00 this morning, it was a bit early. 

“But I got out there and I played some great golf again, and it's nice to come to a place that you know pretty well and I've done well in the past. I feel pretty comfortable around here, so I'm happy with that.”

After feeling he wasn’t rewarded for some stellar play with a one-under par front nine, he waited for his chances to fall and came home in four-under

“You kind of have to stay very patient around here you and always know you're going to have a few chances coming in,” the 2022 champion explained. “I did that today and I got rewarded on the back nine.

“Hopefully I can keep this good golf up for the next few days, and give myself another run at this.”

That said, he’d prefer it if he didn't have to deal with McIlroy.

“Might be better if it’s someone apart from Rory, but yeah, Rory is obviously playing great golf,” he said. 

“Look, it's not a surprise to see him at the top of the leaderboard today. I think if you're going to win the tournament this week, if you finish ahead of him, you've got a great chance.”

Buoyed from four birdies in a row from the ninth, Tom McKibbin came back from two-over after seven holes to card a two-under 70 that left him inside the top 20.

Pádraig Harrington, meanwhile, birdied the 18th to card a one-under 71 while Simon Thornton has work to do to make the cut after making two birdies and four bogeys in a 74.