Rory McIlroy is destined to miss the cut at the RBC Canadian Open after shooting a dismal second-round 78 on Friday.
The Masters champion carded a quadruple bogey, a double bogey and four other bogeys in an eight-over-par round that left him languishing well down the leaderboard on nine over.
The world number two was some 21 shots behind Cameron Champ, who looked set to take the halfway lead after carding a blemish-free 66 to reach 12 under.
It will be the first time McIlroy has missed the cut since the Open at Royal Troon last July and continues a troubled build-up to next week’s US Open.
There was better news for Irishman Shane Lowry, whose two-under-par 68 at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley took him to eight under and into contention heading into the weekend.
McIlroy was already facing an uphill battle after shooting one over par on Thursday and his day began to unravel after taking an eight on the par-four fifth.
That occurred after he fired his second shot out of bounds from the rough and was forced to take a further penalty after playing a provisional. He then missed the green with his fifth shot and needed three more to find the hole.
Things got worse from there with further bogeys at the eighth and 10th before he double-bogeyed the 11th and then dropped more shots at the 13th and 17th. The only relief came with birdies on the 15th and at the last.
‘My form concerns me going into US Open’
McIlroy said his performance on Friday has led to concerns about how he will perform at the US Open, which starts on June 12, live on Sky Sports.
“Of course it concerns me. You don’t want to shoot high scores like the one I did today,” McIlroy said.
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“I felt like I came here with a new driver thinking that that sort of was going to be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn’t. Going to Oakmont next week, what you need to do more than anything else there is hit fairways.
“Still sort of searching for the sort of missing piece off the tee. Obviously, for me, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place for me. Right now that isn’t. Yeah, that’s a concern going into next week.
“I think there are still learnings that you have to take from a day like today.
“Even though the last two days didn’t go the way I wanted them to, there are still things that I can take from it, and there are still things that I can learn.
“I’m going to have to do a lot of practice and a lot of work over the weekend at home and try to at least have a better idea of where my game is going into next week.”
Who will win the RBC Canadian Open? Watch throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Early coverage begins on Saturday from 5pm on Sky Sports +, ahead of full coverage from 6pm on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.
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