Rory crashes out at half-time
RORY McILROY’S exasperating season, filled with blind alleys and frustration, continued on home soil of all places as he crashed out of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at the halfway stage yesterday. McIlroy, 28, was given a valuable lesson in the importance of mental sharpness and a surgeon’s touch around the greens by playing partners Jon Rahm and world No2 Hideki Matsuyama. The Northern Irishman finished a pitiful 13 shots behind Spaniard Rahm and 10 adrift of Japanese Matsuyama. In the five years he has hosted the event, McIlroy has compiled the extraordinary record of four missed cuts and a victory. Of more immediate importance is the need to put together four good rounds in the Scottish Open next week to have any chance of doing himself justice at The Open at Royal Birkdale in 12 days’ time. The last four holes yesterday were shocking as McIlroy squandered shots around the greens with a profligacy that would have disturbed a golfer with a single-figure handicap, let alone the most gifted player in the game. Here we saw the damage wrought by his prolonged absences this year, and the fact he gives so much of himself in the build-up to this event. The outcome was an alarming lack of touch. ‘I feel the game is right there in practice but I’m making too many silly mistakes to have a chance of scoring well,’ he said. ‘I’m just not efficient enough right now around the greens. ‘The last two times the Irish Open has been in Northern Ireland I’ve not been playing at the weekend, and that’s not where I want to be. It’s been a frustrating year with little going the way I want. ‘Now I’ve got to get down to some hard practice over the weekend. I’m certainly glad I added the Scottish event next week. I’d like to get a good tournament under my belt going into Birkdale.’ McIlroy will return tomorrow to present the trophy with every chance he will hand it to one of his aforementioned partners. Rahm, in just his second European Tour event, looks particularly menacing at just one off the pace set by surprise pair, Benjamin Hebert from France and American Daniel Im. Scotland’s David Drysdale is nicely placed at nine under, just four shots off the lead, with countryman Stephen Gallacher just a shot further back. Tommy Fleetwood is on seven under, but has pulled out of next week’s Scottish Open to be fresh for Birkdale. Keep an eye out for New Zealander Ryan Fox, just two strokes off the lead. The son of All Blacks legend Grant Fox, what’s his demeanour going to be like after viewing the momentous events at Eden Park this morning?