Missing McIlroy takes gloss off weekend

Just one of those weeks was the way Rory McIlroy summed up his one-over-par return for two rounds. Alas, for him and the 60,000 golf fans expected through the gates at Fota Island this weekend, it came at an Irish Open.

A missed cut for the second year in a row in his home Open should not detract from the great Irish presence at the other end of the leaderboard after 36 holes, but losing the two-time Major winner and highest-ranked of them all is bound to take a little gloss from the picture.

Nothing is ever straightforward when it comes to McIlroy and this week in Cork was no exception. He began it minus his golf clubs, lost by an airline en route from last week’s US Open, surprised everybody by declaring his allegiance to Ireland for the Olympic Games and then when the tournament actually got going played well below his potential.

Yesterday’s round was a two-under-par 69 that featured an eagle, at the par-five 10th, and six birdies. It also included a double-bogey seven at the par-five fourth and two bogeys on the back nine to leave McIlroy a shot the wrong side of the cutline at one over.

It also left him deeply disappointed at another missed opportunity on home soil.

“I look back at every Irish Open really and say that I enjoyed it, but can I look back and say that I played to my potential in any of the ones I’ve played? Definitely not. Not even close. Not even close,” he said.

“I’d love to be able to produce my best when I come back home, and it hasn’t been this year or last year or the previous years, but hopefully I’ll start to in the future.

“It’s definitely been the first Irish Open where I’ve felt the least pressure. I went out and really enjoyed it and played and fought for every shot and smiled; I would have liked to have gotten a little bit of practice on Tuesday, but obviously clubs didn’t arrive until Wednesday morning, so that made it a little difficult.

“Can’t really put it down to anything. Just one of those weeks.”

Now McIlroy will turn his attention to links golf and his pursuit of the Auld Claret Jug that adorns the British Open winner’s mantelpiece. The world No 6 has less than four weeks to get ready for Hoylake in mid-July, including a tune-up at the Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen in the preceding week.

“I was thinking, this is my sixth tournament in eight weeks. I’ve had a busy stretch here with a lot of stuff going on, so it will be nice to have a couple of weeks to regroup and play some links golf and get ready for the Scottish Open and the Open Championship.

“Yeah, would have been nice to play two more days of golf but looking forward to a bit of a mini-break.”