AUGUSTA, Ga. – Rory McIlroy’s bid for the career Grand Slam will have to wait another year.
The world No. 2 crashed out of the Masters with a second-round 77 and is likely to miss the cut.
The second round was suspended Friday afternoon because of inclement weather. Play won’t resume until at least 8 a.m. ET Saturday, when Augusta National is expected to get socked by at least an inch of rain.
Full-field scores from the 87th Masters Tournament
Though not official, McIlroy is likely to miss the 36-hole cut after posting a two-round total of 5-over 149. He is currently in a tie for 61st, with the top 50 and ties advancing to the final two rounds.
This will mark McIlroy’s second missed cut at the Masters in the past three years, and this is perhaps his most surprising performance.
McIlroy entered the week brimming with confidence after he placed third two weeks ago at the WGC-Match Play. On the eve of the Masters, he spoke of his “breakthrough” a year ago at Augusta National, where he closed with a bogey-free 64 in the final round to finish solo second, his best finish in 14 tries.
“I’ve always felt like I have the physical ability to win this tournament, but it’s being in the right head space to let those physical abilities shine through,” he said earlier this week. “It’s been tentative starts, not putting my foot on the gas early enough. I’ve had a couple of bad nine holes that have thrown me out of the tournament at times. I’ve got all the ingredients to make the pie. It’s just putting all those ingredients in and setting the oven to the right temperature and letting it all sort of come to fruition.”
Once again, however, McIlroy had an untidy opening round of 72 in which he failed to break par for the fifth consecutive year. Needing a round in the mid-60s to thrust himself back into contention, he instead went the other way on Friday, carding seven bogeys (including on two of the last three holes) to squander any chance of playing the weekend.
McIlroy was set to speak with reporters after he finished his second round, but the horn sounded while he was in the scoring building and never met with the press.
McIlroy is in the field for next week’s RBC Heritage, another designated event on the PGA Tour schedule.
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