Rory McIlroy’s efforts to bridge a nine-shot deficit on defending champ, Brooks Koepka was off to a horror start when he posted a first hole double-bogey ‘6’ and a second hole bogey ‘5’ to commence his second round at Bethpage Park on New York’s Long Island.

McIlroy, and starting his round from the 502-yard par-4 10th tee, sent his drive well right into knee-high rough from where his second shot veered way left into similar knee-high rough.

There was plent deliberation between McIlroy and his caddy, Harry Diamond and with Diamond, at first, not having an immediate yardage to the flag.

Then after leaving the fairway and taking some 15 paces into the rough to where McIlroy’s ball was sitting the World No. 4 was advised he had 92-yards to the pin.

McIlroy played the shot that left long strains of grass clinging to the clubface and only for his ball to fall 40-feet short of the green and where he chipped to 10-feet but missed his bogey putt for a horror starting hole ‘6’.

The resultant double saw McIlroy plunge 33 spots to a now share of 84th place.

McIlroy headed to the next tee shaking his head in disappointment.

And there was then no joy off the tee at the par-4 11th with McIlroy, who had hit 8 of 14 fairways on day one, again right and this time finding a fairway bunker from where he had 128-yards to the flag.  It seemed McIlroy’s second just clipped the very edge of the bunker lip and with his second finding the ‘dance floor’ but a good 40-feet short of ‘the band’.

He then sent his first putt rolled six-foot past the flag from where McIlroy missed his par putt to be now three-over for the round and back into a share of 108th and joining fellow Irishman Shane Lowry on five-over.

There was no let-up with McIlroy sending his tee shot at the par-4 12th hole again right and on this occasion sending spectators scattering from where he elected to hit 74-yards back to the fairway but after having just 148-yards to the flag, he missed the green back left by some 22-feet.

To add insult to injury, McIlroy failed to find the green with his chip shot from where he two-putted for a second double-bogey of his round.

McIlroy was now five-over for this round, seven-over for the championship, and now having dropped 74 places into a T125th position and four shots shy of the expected cut-off mark.

While McIlroy began his round looking to make inroads on Koepka’s lead, all the talk now of McIlroy making the halfway cut.