Rory McIlroy makes ‘tough’ look almost impossible at Irish Open

Rory McIlroy had a pretty lousy day at the office on Thursday and, after shooting an opening-round 9-over 80 at the Irish Open, has a lot of work yet to do to avoid missing his second European Tour cut in two weeks.

On a blustery, soggy day when “nothing went right” for the world No. 1 and tourney host, playing competitor Rickie Fowler proved that his team victory (with Billy Horschel) over McIlroy and his partner in the Walker Cup eight years ago on the same Royal County Down course was no fluke. Fowler, fresh from his rousing Players Championship win earlier this month, enters Friday’s second round at 71, just four shots off the pace set by 18-hole leader Padraig Harrington.

“It’s tough to see. You don’t want to see someone struggle and not the start that he was looking for this week,” Fowler told reporters about witnessing McIlroy’s woes. “That’s golf. We’ve all been through it, and I’m sure we’ll go out and have some fun, hopefully feed off of each other tomorrow.”

“Tough” was the word of the day, especially for the four-time major winner, who followed last Friday’s 78 at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth by failing to card a single birdie on his way to his highest Euro Tour score since an 8-over 80 in the second round of the 2010 British Open.

“It’s tough,” McIlroy said about the course conditions. “It’s not quite as tough as I made it look out there.”

McIlroy was not unhappy with his drives, but other aspects of his game gave him fits.

“Nothing went well at all. I put myself in decent positions [off the tee], and then as I got closer to the green, the worse it got … I didn’t hit very many good iron shots … My putting and my speed was off, I wasn’t reading them properly. I sort of just lost confidence in the greens as the round went on,” McIlroy said.

“Nothing went right,” added McIlroy, who made nine bogeys, hit six of 14 fairways in regulation, and needed 36 putts in his opener.

“I was really trying to birdie the last to try and break even, but it didn’t quite happen,” he said. “But I just gotta go out there tomorrow and play my best and try to claw my way back toward the cut line and see what happens.”

As if the possibility of a second straight missed cut weren’t enough misery for McIlroy, who planned to donate his winnings to his charitable foundation, he also faces punishment from the European Tour for tossing his club last week at Wentworth. The episode occurred in the first round of the BMW PGA:

“Rory will be disciplined under the players Code of Conduct for the club throw,” a tour official said via email to Steve Elling.

It was unclear if the tour planned to hit McIlroy in the wallet or otherwise sanction him, though Elling reported that the maximum fine for conduct “unbecoming a professional” was about $18,400, so pretty much chump change for the wealthy young man from Northern Ireland. Still, confirmation that a penalty was in the offing was refreshing, considering the PGA Tour refuses even to acknowledge players’ bad behavior.

McIlroy, Fowler and Martin Kaymer (who opened with a 79) were scheduled to give it another go on Friday starting at 1 p.m. local time.