Rory McIlroy's golf club mishap sums up nightmare few months for him

Rory McIlroy's dismal performance at The Open was dismally epitomized when he accidentally hit his own face with his club .

Facing an uphill battle on Thursday, McIlroy laboriously pushed through a challenging 78-shot round, shattering any hopes of clinching his first major title since the last decade .

He continued this pitiful form into Friday, ending another disastrous day at The Open with a preliminary seven-over round, along with other elite golfers demonstrating a similar lacklustre performance.

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During his unfortunate second round at the prestigious Royal Troon, McIlroy miscued a shot, only managing to strike it five yards from the rough, resulting in further embarrassment as his back nine unfolded. Whilst walking towards the No.

16 green, the 35 year old made an attempt to toss his club into the air but shockingly, instead ended up receiving a blow to the head from his own golf club.

Remarkably unfazed by this bizarre incident, McIlroy hurriedly ducked down to quickly recover his fallen club, hoping to swiftly move past his humiliating blunder. One sharp-eyed spectator took advantage by capturing the incident on their mobile phone and posted it on social media platform X, reports the Mirror US .

The caption read: "McIlroy just went to throw his club and doofed himself right in the mush."

Having missed the cut after adding a risky four-over round on Friday that brought him to a disappointing total of 11-over, a vague sense of disappointment was evident in McIlroy's voice as he reflected on his regretful inability to master the harsh Scottish weather conditions.

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"Even though the wind on the back nine was helping, it was a lot off the left," he commented. "I was actually surprised at how difficult the back nine played. I thought we were going to get it a little bit easier than we did.

"You have a strategy that you think is going to help you, but when you get a wind you haven't played in, you start to think about hitting a few clubs that you haven't hit in practice.

"I just didn't adapt well enough to the conditions. Your misses get punished a lot more this week than last week... whether you miss it in a fairway bunker or even the rough.

"The rough... the balls that I hit in the rough today, the lies were pretty nasty. It's one of the worst rounds I think I've had this year in terms of how I've hit the ball. It wasn't a fun experience."

McIlroy struggled immensely on Friday, and was birdie-less for his round through 11 holes at 13-over. But he recovered with back-to-birdies down the stretch, ensuring he saved face - with one birdie coming from a delightful chip out of the bunker.

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