RORY FALLS SHORT

RORY McILROY was reduced to tears after he fell agonisingly short of making a remarkable comeback yesterday.

The home-town hero, right, lit up the fairways with a secondround 65 – 14 shots better than Thursday – to equal the course record since its redesign and earn a thunderous standing ovation. But he ultimately paid the price for his disastrous first round as he missed the cut by one shot. “I’m emotional but I’m happy with how I played,” said McIlroy.

“I tried my best and I showed good resilience. It is going to hurt for a bit.” Graeme McDowell will be around for the weekend after shooting a 70 yesterday to finish one over.