Rory McIlroy's wait for another Major continued at The 152nd Open Championship, as he struggled yet again at Royal Troon, carding rounds of 78 and 75 to finish at 11-over-par.
One of the big names to miss the cut, it will now be over a decade since his last Major scalp, the 2014 PGA Championship, with the 11-over-par total five shots back of the six-over-par cutline.
"I think once I made the eight on the fourth hole, that was it. 22 holes into the event and I'm thinking about where I'm going to go on vacation next week. Yeah, that was basically it. I mean, I knew from then I'd sort of resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to shoot, four, or five, under-par".
Realistically, the damage was done on the Thursday for McIlroy, who carded just one birdie, four bogeys and two doubles in a seven-over-par round of 78 that left him well down the leaderboard.
Needing a hot start on Friday, he parred the opening two holes, but a bogey at the third was followed by a scrappy triple bogey that included leaving a shot in the thick rough. Well outside the cutline, another bogey at the fifth was then compounded by another at the sixth, with McIlroy hitting a huge hook from 90-yards in the process.
"Obviously I got off to the worst start possible today, being six-over through six. But then played the last 12 holes pretty well, bogey-free. If I need to remember something about this week, it'll be the last few holes that I played. You know, when I look back on the two Majors that I didn't play my best at, here and the Masters, the wind got the better of me on Friday at Augusta, and then the wind got the better of me the last two days here.
"I didn't adapt well at all to that left-to-right wind yesterday on the back nine, and then this afternoon going out in that gusty wind on the front, as I said, it got the better of me, and I felt pretty uncomfortable over a few shots".
Going into the weekend, it's McIlroy's close friend, Shane Lowry, who leads by two strokes at seven-under-par. The two claimed the Zurich Classic Of New Orleans back in April and, with two rounds remaining, he is hoping his good buddy can get over the line and win The Open once again.
"I can't wait to watch this weekend. He's so creative. I think even just watching the coverage the last couple of days, that little sort of squeezy cut that he can hit, especially going out in that front nine, is going to be really helpful to him," stated McIlroy.
"Yeah, look, he relishes these conditions. He loves playing these conditions. The Open Championship is his favourite tournament in the world. He gets more up for this than anything else. I'm looking forward to cheering him on and hopefully him getting his second jug".
So, what's next for McIlroy? Well, his next challenge will come at the Olympic Games at the beginning of August, with the 35-year-old set to tee it up at Le Golf National and secure a medal for Ireland.
"I feel like I say this every Open Championship, but it's not as if we only play four events a year. We play like 25, so there's still a few things there's left to play for. Obviously the Majors have come and gone, but to sort of refocus and try to reset for the Olympics, which will be another cool experience, and try to play well there, and then again, I'm in contention to try to win both titles on either side of the Atlantic, so still some things to play for until the end of the year."
