Rory McIlroy shoots season-worst 80 at Irish Open

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Usually when a golfer is a tournament host, he sticks around for the final two days of play. Rory McIlroy, however, is on pace to miss his second consecutive cut after shooting a morning wave-worst 80 in the first round of the Irish Open.

McIIroy’s score was his worst since the final round of the 2011 Masters.

“I just didn't play good enough today," McIlroy told The Golf Channel. "I played well off the tee, I felt like I drove the ball pretty well, but the closer I got to the green, the worse the score got for me."

McIlroy finished with nine pars and nine bogies, needing 36 putts to complete his round on a windy day at Royal County Down in Newcastle, Northern Ireland.

"I was caught between trying to play two ways. My poor iron play led to missed greens and I left myself a lot of 8- to 12-foot putts for par, pretty much all of which I missed," McIlroy said, via the BBC.

McIlroy won the U.S. PGA Tour's Wells Fargo Championship with a tournament record two weekends ago, but missed the cut at last week’s BMW PGA Championship.

"I've missed the cut the last two years at the Irish Open, so I don't want to make it three in a row," McIlroy said. "I want to at least go out there tomorrow and fight for it, try and claw my way back up towards the cut line. If I can sneak in there, that would be great."

Finding his way into the field Saturday, at the tournament whose host is The Rory Foundation, would be a big boost for the Open and the world's top golfer playing in his home country.

"It's disappointing because I want to go out there and play well, not just for myself but for a lot of other people," McIlroy said, via ESPN.com. "I want to give them something to cheer about and not just get sympathy claps as I got coming off the ninth green."

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