Rory McIlroy Watches On In Commentary As Former Major Champion Snaps Putter

Rory McIlroy returned to the commentary booth on Friday, with his skills put to the test as he watched Jimmy Walker snap his putter in anger.

Having placed himself in contention with a solid two-under-par 70 in the second round of the Valero Texas Open, the Northern Irishman joined Smylie Kaufman for Golf Channel's Happy Hour on Friday.

As the action switched down to the eighth green, 2016 PGA Championship winner Walker was seen pulling a birdie putt left of the hole before seemingly snapping the head of his putter in frustration.

McIlroy, who was midway through explaining how the wind affected the American's stroke, stopped mid-sentence before exclaiming: "Oh. Oh. We’ve all been there!"

Kaufman then jumped in, saying: “I must say, of the things I expected to happen just then, I don’t think I expected the club to snap in half. What about you Rors?”

And, thinking quickly, McIlroy made light of the whole incident. "I didn't know Jimmy was that strong!" he joked.

Although players are not able to replace a club midway through a round, they can play with damaged equipment or try to fix it. 

Whatever Walker tried, it clearly worked on the next hole as he rolled in a birdie on the par-five ninth. The 45-year-old, however, eventually carded a two-over-par 74 and missed the cut by three strokes.

McIlroy, meanwhile, sits in solo fifth heading into the weekend, albeit a distant six shots off halfway leader Akshay Bhatia following his superb nine-under-par first round display. 

The four-time Major champion, though, was happy with his first two days' work. "I just stayed patient and tried to play pretty smart golf," he said after his second round. 

"The wind was up a little bit at the start of the round yesterday and then it died on the back nine. It was pretty much up from the get-go today. So just trying to keep the ball in play off the tee, trying to give yourself some good looks. 

"It was hard to make a ton of birdies out there today, so just stayed patient and yeah, not get too frustrated that you weren't getting the ball too close or weren't making a ton of birdies. Obviously Akshay's playing really well, but apart from that, no one's really lighting the world on fire."

McIlroy gets underway in the third round at 11.25am CDT (16.25pm BST) alongside Denny McCarthy and Tommy Fleetwood.