Fresh from the disappointment of blowing a final-round lead at the Masters, young gun golfer Rory McIlory had to deal with preparing for Thursday's Malaysian Open without his clubs.
The Northern Irishman arrived in Kuala Lumpur after a series of marathon flights to discover that his bespoke Titleist clubs had disappeared at some stage of the 25-hour trip, the Malaysia Star reported.
"It hasn't happened often. It's one of those things you can't help, going through so many time zones and so many connecting flights, your bags are going to get lost sometimes," McIlroy said Wednesday.
The 21-year-old was eventually reunited with his clubs before Thursday's opening play, Sky News reported. He went on to shoot a 3-under 69 to sit four shots off the opening round leader Alexander Noren.
McIlroy earlier said he had already put the disappointment of his last-round blowout at Augusta behind him.
"The long flight here gave me a lot of time to reflect. I'm really just looking at the positives. I led that tournament for 63 holes. That's all I can look at," said McIlroy. "Everyone is going to have bad days. Mine just happened probably on the most important day of my golfing career.
"I'm a positive person and I know I will get over it," he added. "I'll learn from it. When I get myself back in that position if I have really learned from it, it won't happen again."
McIlroy shared the marathon flight to Malaysia with the man who triumphed at Augusta, South African Charl Schwartzel, who also had to deal with a set of missing clubs.
The jet lag appeared to take its toll on Schwartzel, though, with the Masters champion shooting a 1-over 73.
