Rory McIlroy's US Open preparation in tatters after calamity in Canada sees him card an eight and crash out
Superstar suffers torture in Toronto as he misses cut
Ravaged Rory McIlroy suffered the shambles of carding an eight during a Canadian Open calamity which has left his build up to the US Open in ruins.
The career Grand Slam winner crashed out of the weekend at TPC Toronto after a catastrophic second day.
Having taken a fortnight off in the wake of his disappointing display at the PGA Championship which was won at Quail Hollow by Scottie Scheffler, the Masters champion headed to the RBC-sponsored event to get back into competitive mode ahead of Oakmont.
Armed with a new driver in the bag, the opportunity was there to get some key work in tournament conditions under the belt ahead of the brutal test in Pennsylvania.
However, his comeback was cut to just 36 holes after a frightening Friday left him reeling and spinning out of Canada. McIlroy parred his way through the opening four holes before a horrendous turn of events at the fifth began the implosion.
After hitting his tee shot into the right rough on the par four, his approach shot soared over fans and the green and into a place that resulted in a penalty stroke.
McIlroy needed three more shots to finally reach the green and finally ended up with a quadruple bogey to shoot himself towards the exit door. He then dropped more shots to reach the turn in a faltering 40.
With little hope of making the weekend, McIlroy's situation just got worse with another double-bogey on the 11th taking him to nine-over par.
Energy was zapped out of his play as the inevitable loomed and, despite a birdie at the last, McIlroy ended up with a 78, which saw him end his competition a whopping 21 shots behind leader Cameron Champ.
The superstar now faces hard work to solve the issues before he gets to Oakmont and that may be tough given his pre-tournament admissions over current levels of motivation.
Having won the career Grand Slam and fulfilled his lifetime goals, the push for the next target is going to be a tough one as he confessed on the eve of Canada: 'The last few weeks I've had a couple weeks off and grinding on the range for three or four hours every day is maybe a little tougher than it used to be. You have this event in your life that you've worked towards and it happens, sometimes it's hard to find the motivation to get back on the horse and go again.
'I think the last two weeks have been good for me just as a reset, just to sort of figure out where I'm at in my own head, what I want to do, where I want to play. I thought it was a good time to reset some goals. I've had a pretty good first half of the season and I want to have a good second half of the season now, too.'
McIlroy admitted he was happy enough after round one, but the wheels careered off on day two.
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