Rory McIlroy on Friday missed the cut at the Irish Open for the fourth time in five years, leading the four-time major winner to express concerns about parts of his game ahead of The Open Championship.
McIlroy shot a one-over 73 in his second round over the links at Portstewart and was one-over for the tournament, which he is hosting to benefit his foundation.
He was four strokes below the cut mark and 14 strokes off the joint leaders, Benjamin Hebert and Daniel Im.
Photo: Reuters
“My short game is not sharp enough and I’m making silly mistakes,” said McIlroy, who refused to blame his performance on the fact he was busy at the start of the week because he was hosting the event. “I’m not being very proficient with my scoring and making it difficult for myself.”
McIlroy also missed the cut at the US Open last month and has not had a victory so far this year, during which he has had two spells out because of a rib injury.
He is to play one more event — the Scottish Open at Dundonald Links next week — before The Open, which starts on July 20 at Royal Birkdale.
The only time he made the cut at the Irish Open since 2012 was last year, when he won.
He finished this year’s event by slamming his driver onto a tee marker following a poor drive on the seventh, his 16th hole of the day, before making double-bogey on the next hole.
“It’s disappointing, because I felt like I was playing well coming into the week and I need to do some practice over the weekend and get ready for next week,” McIlroy said.
“Even being busy on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I should be shooting two scores in the 60s with the conditions the way they were,” he added.
Jon Rahm, playing in the same group as McIlroy, shot 67 to be alone in third place, a stroke off the lead held by the pair that also topped the leaderboard after the first round.
Hebert and Im both shot 67 in their second rounds.
World No. 2 Hideki Matsuyama shot 68 and was five shots back.
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