McIlroy misses cut at Scottish Open as struggles continue

Rory McIlroy is heading to Royal Birkdale Golf Club for the Open Championship two days earlier than he hoped after missing the cut at the Scottish Open.

McIlroy followed up an opening-round 74 with a 1-under-par 71 Friday, and has now failed to play the weekend in three of his last four starts.

The Northern Irishman went out in 33 on Day 2, but made a costly double-bogey at the par-4 13th for the second day in a row after failing to get out of the greenside bunker twice.

"I shot three under on the front nine today and felt pretty good," McIlroy told John Huggan of Golf Digest. "But the 13th hurt me. There was so much sand in that bunker. I told myself I had to hit it really hard. And I couldn't have hit it any harder. But it still didn't come out."

McIlroy came to the par-5 ninth - his final hole of the day - needing a birdie to keep his weekend hopes alive, but his seven-foot birdie putt didn't come close to falling into the cup.

"I knew what that last putt meant," McIlroy said. "I knew the cut was going from one under to even and back again. I just pulled the whatever off it. It was a terrible putt."

The 28-year-old showed some signs of improvement with the flatstick in Scotland this week, but his wedge game was a big problem, as he missed a number of greens with the shorter clubs.

"I'm waiting for something, some sort of spark to go right. The last couple of weeks have not been like that," the four-time major champion said. "I just have to keep plugging away and hope it turns round next week."

McIlroy made just seven birdies for the week, five of them on par 5s.