Rory rues what might have been

RORY McILROY suspects he might still have been unable to catch runaway eight-shot winner Louis Oosthuizen no matter what happened in Friday’s second round, but he also realises his failure to cope with the dreadful conditions cost him, at the very least, a serious chance of challenging for the claret jug.

That horrendous round of 80 was sandwiched between the major championship record-equalling 63 on Thursday and fine scores of 69 and 68 over the weekend. McIlroy eventually finished in a share of third place with Henrik Stenson and Paul Casey behind Oosthuizen and Lee Westwood.

Remarkably, Oosthuizen, Westwood and McIlroy are all members of Chubby Chandler’s International Sports Management (ISM) so it was little surprise Chandler wore the biggest smile of all at St Andrews last night.