RORY McILROY suffered two devastating blows at Southern Hills' shortest hole, ending his eight-year Major championship drought.
McIlroy found water on the par three sixth, and ran up a double-bogey five. He still looked shell-shocked when he dropped shots at seven to eight to drop off the leaderboard.
Rory McIlroy was dealt a double blow to the body in an attempt to end an eight year wait for a Major.
McIlroy leads after leading. He is now one over, seven shots behind leader Mito Pereira
His attempt to bounce back on his back nine was thwarted when he suffered another surprise at the 168 yard 11th where he scored a triple-bogey SIX.
McIlroy hooked McIlroy's tee shot in deep rough, took two shots to find green, and then three-putted within ten feet.
Birdies at 13 & 14 helped to repair some of the damage. But it will take something very special for him today to chase down the leaders.
These early struggles were the reason McIlroy's first round 65 was so promising. It gave him the lead in the Major for the first eight years. But, things began to fall apart in a depressingly familiar way.
Even if the four-time Major champion can recreate his Masters final round heroics, where he shot an incredible 64 to suggest that his next big win may not be far off, it will almost certainly be another case too late.
McIlroy was not pushed into second at Augusta by world No 1 Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler spent the weekend doing something completely new after missing the cut by two shots. He was trying to figure out what went wrong at his favorite course in the world.
Scheffler wasn't the only major name to return from Southern Hills earlier that expected.
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Double Major winner Dustin Johnson finished six over par while Ryder Cup teammate Patrick Cantlay was five shots better.
European Ryder Cup team-mates Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood also returned home early. There is a good possibility that Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood will return to the LIV Series opener at St Albans, which was supported by the PS20million Saudi-backed LIV Series.
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