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It can’t have escaped your attention that Rory McIlroy played the Old Course in St Andrews earlier this week.

Footage of the four-time major champ enjoying a casual knock around the world’s most iconic track has been widely shared on social media.

bunkered’s gear editor James Tait was amongst those who were in the right place at the right time when the world No.3 rocked up in the Auld Grey Toon, sharing this clip of the Irishman’s signature low flighted drive.

Pretty cool, no?

However, another clip has since surfaced – and it’s not one McIlroy will want to watch back too many times.

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Having gone through the back of the green on the infamous ‘Road Hole’, the 17th, McIlroy is filmed trying to putt the ball across the eponymous road and up the grassy embankment towards the pin – a tactic employed by countless golfers down the years.

Except it didn’t quite go to plan, McIlroy’s ball bouncing up off the tarmac and coming to rest on a few feet in front of him in the embankment.

He, and the crowd that gathered around him, can be heard groaning at his misfortune.

Have a watch:

Rory McIlroy Road Hole fail at St Andrews 💀 @TrackingRory | #Golf pic.twitter.com/UA6undwRX4

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) July 31, 2024

This is one of the few times McIlroy has been seen playing the Old Course since he came up agonisingly short in his bid to win The 150th Open in 2022.

Sharing the 54-hole lead, he was overtaken on the final day by Cameron Smith, ultimately finishing two shots behind the Aussie, with Cam Young sandwiched between them.

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He returned to St Andrews a few months later, finishing tied-fourth in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He skipped the event last year.

Should he return this October, he will at least know how not to play the 17th…