Memorial Tournament: Rory McIlroy in danger of missing the cut again

Rory McIlroy made a miserable start to the Memorial Tournament in Ohio with an opening round of 78 at the Memorial Tournament.

The Northern Irishman, back playing on the PGA Tour after his appearance at the BMW PGA Championship in England last week, began his day impressively enough at Muirfield Village, carding a birdie at his first hole, the 10th.

However from then on it all quickly went downhill, as he had a double bogey at the 12th and dropped a further three shots on his way to the turn.

His back nine was hardly any better as he struggled with his accuracy. Three more bogeys were interspersed with a birdie at the fifth and McIlroy’s mood was hardly improved when he wasted two late chances to get shots back.

“That’s sort of been my big miss all of this year is leaving that shot out to the right,” said the two-time major champion.

“It cost me today, obviously. I hit a few shots, especially around the front nine, in the water and stuff. It was just a bit of a struggle out there.

“The game just isn’t all there at the minute, but I’m working hard and I’m trying to figure things out. Hopefully they’ll come around soon.”

The six-over score means McIlroy is in danger of missing the cut, just as he did at the European Tour’s flagship event at Wentworth when he struggled in the cold, wet conditions in Surrey.

He knows a seriously low round will be required on Friday if he is to succeed where he failed last year at the Memorial and qualify for the weekend.

“I’ll head to the range and practice most of the afternoon,” he said after being an early finisher on Thursday.

“I need to shoot something like 66 or 65 to probably make the weekend. That will be the target tomorrow, try to shoot the lowest score possible and see what happens.”