McIlroy blames silly mistakes

Rory McIlroy’s British Open preparations were in disarray on Friday after the former world number one missed the cut at the Irish Open for the fourth time in five years.

Defending champion McIlroy was one under for his round with two holes to play but a double-bogey six on the 17th ended any chance of his playing all four days, leaving him one-over-par 73 for the second round. That saw the current world number four, five shots shy of the projected four-under cut-off mark in the $7 million event.