Wentworth exit allows Rory McIlroy to finally enjoy some Down time

He was not angry with his performance, just disappointed.

A fatigued world No1 Rory McIlroy slid out of the BMW PGA Championship as his title defence ended with a missed cut, bringing to an end a remarkable run of great form but leaving the Irishman with a weekend to recharge his batteries and offer Irish Open fans the real chance of seeing their four-time major champion fit and fresh this time next week.

Like a weary parent chiding his errant child, McIlroy was too jaded to be anything other than let down by a six-over-par 78 at Wentworth yesterday that was his worst round since his second-round 78 at the Scottish Open last July, and his first missed cut in 45 starts.

Four days after winning his second tournament in three weeks with blistering dominance at the Wells Fargo Championship in the US, McIlroy had complained of mental fatigue following an opening 71 on Thursday. Six rounds of matchplay to win the WGC Cadillac Match Play in San Francisco, a top-10 finish at the Players Championship in Florida, and four more rounds to win at Quail Hollow last week will scramble the brains of anyone, even a 26-year-old gym rat world No.1, and something had to give eventually.

Yesterday’s second round at Wentworth just happened to be the moment as the Holywood golfer managed to hit just seven of 14 fairways, reach nine greens in regulation and needing 31 putts to get around the West Course as he slumped to five over par after 36 holes, three shots from the safety of the cutline.

It brought to an end a magnificent 12 months that begun with an unlikely victory in this, the European Tour’s flagship event which had previously been the source of so many struggles. Six more victories, including two majors, followed and McIlroy was right to put this latest round into perspective.

“I’m not going to read too much into it. It was inevitable at some point that the run was going to come to a bit of an end. I’m sort of back to my usual at Wentworth. It wasn’t great before I won last year and it hasn’t been great after,” McIlroy said.

“I’m not angry. A little disappointed I’m not going to be here for the weekend, but if there was any weekend to miss, coming off the back of three good weeks in the States, I’m probably in need of a little bit of a rest. As I said, I’d still rather be here but it’s not all bad getting to go home for the weekend.”

The silver lining for McIlroy will also be a relief for more than 80,000 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open ticket holders who will converge with high expectations for their hero at Royal County Down next week. For them a missed cut at Wentworth is a blessing in disguise. Rather than seeing their hero pitch up for his national open having gone through the motions this weekend, the enforced time off for may well see a recharged McIlroy finally put on a show on home soil.

The man himself did not disagree.

“Any time you’re defending a title, you want to come back and give it a valiant effort. This week wasn’t really that,” he said, before adding: “Just dust myself off and get ready for next week at The Irish Open.

“If anything good comes out of this, it’s just that I get a little bit of a rest over the next couple of days, and feel a bit fresher for what’s going to be a really big week for me next week.”

The writing had been on the wall for McIlroy yesterday from the third hole, which produced the first of six bogeys in his second round. Throw in a double bogey at the par-four 11th and just two birdies and the scorecard tells the story of a golfer who has run out of steam.

“When I was trying to muster up a few birdies coming down the back nine, I just couldn’t really get anything going. As I said, a couple of days over the weekend to refresh mentally, I’ll be okay for next week.”

In McIlroy’s absence, Italy’s Francesco Molinari is best placed to succeed the Irishman as BMW PGA champion. He leads at the halfway stage on 10 under par, two clear of the field, after following up his opening 65 with a 69.

“It’s a good score... just need to keep doing the same,” Molinari said.

“I enjoy playing here. I’ve played well the last few years. There’s a bit of good Italian karma here with (Costantino) Rocca winning and Matteo (Manassero) winning a few years ago.”

Molinari will not have it all his own way this weekend, however. European Tour rookie Byeong-hun An, South Korea’s 2009 US Amateur champion, carded a bogey-free 64 to join the leaderboard in second place, a shot behind the Italian at nine under. The 23-year-old had a 59 in his sights after playing his first 12 holes in seven under par but run of four pars put paid to that.

Emiliano Grillo of Argentina had earlier shot a seven-under 65, to get to eight under and he shared third place overnight with Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee (66) on eight under.

James Morrison of England continued his Spanish Open-winning form of last week with a second-round 66 to move into fifth place at halfway on seven under with everything to play for this weekend as McIlroy puts his feet up.