For Rory McIlroy missing the halfway cut in his own national open certainly cuts the deepest.
It is the second year in succession the World No. 6 McIlroy, and highest ranked player in the field, has missed the cut in the Irish Open.
McIlroy went into the second day sharing 125th place and worked his way to T78th on the back of a 10th hole eagle and six birdies, including the last two holes.
An all too familiar sight as Rory McIlroy misses the cut in the 2014 Irish Open. (Photo : Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
McIlroy went into the second round of the Euro 2m sharing 125th place and while he got off to a bright start with a third hole birdie he was struggling when his tee shot at the par four fourth hole ricocheted off a tree and over an out-of-bounds fence and into the adjoining Fota Island Wildlife Park.
The current World No. 6 walked off the hole with a double bogey.
McIlroy made amends with back-to-back birdies but also had back-to-back bogeys at eight and nine before the highlight of his round in holing a four-foot eagle putt at the 10th.
He was still three shots shy of the projected cut-off mark with two holes to play and needing to play them in three under but while he drew huge applause the pair of birdies was not good enough.
“It’s disappointing not to be able to in front of such a big crowd over the weekend, but I also feel more so for them a little bit,” he said.
“It isn’t what I want to happen when I come back home to play.
“But I’ll be back next year and try and do better.
“And when I look back at every Irish Open I’ve played, I definitely can’t say that I have played to my potential. Definitely not. Not even close. Not even close.
“I’d love to be able to produce my best when I come back home, and it hasn’t been this year or last year of the previous years, but hopefully I’ll start to in the future.”
Finland’s Mikko Ilonen maintained his lead on the field adding a two under par 68 to his opening round new course record of 64 to move to 10-under par.
The 34-year old Ilonen birdied his opening hole but then stalled with eight straight pars ahead of an inward half of two under than included four birdies and half as many bogeys.
“I got to my goal and that was to get to double digits, so I wanted to at least get to 10-under par and I did that,” he said.
“It wasn’t as easy today and I didn’t hit the ball that well but I putted well and it was good enough.”
Three players, Northern Ireland’s and former U.S Open champion Graeme McDowell (66), England’s Robert Rock (66) and Frenchman Romain Wattel (65) share second place on eight under par.
McDowell is looking to win the Irish Open for a first occasion in his career while Rock has been runner-up twice before including losing out in a play-off to Ireland’s then amateur Shane Lowry in 2009.
