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McIlroy set to miss his first cut since June 2014

However, the news is better for Padraig Harrington.

Updated at 10.21pm

RORY MCILROY’S RUN to the Masters is off to a disappointing start with the world number one poised to miss the cut at the US PGA Tour’s Honda Classic.

The 25-year-old could find just one birdie with five bogeys in a four-over par 74 on Friday for a seven-over total of 147 that left him four shots over the projected cut line in the rain-hit $6.1 million event.

When McIlroy walked off the green at PGA National’s ninth — where he made his fifth bogey of the day after hitting into a fairway bunker — Patrick Reed was the clubhouse leader on six-under par.

However, the news is better for Padraig Harrington as he sits in a tie for fifth on -3 without hitting a shot in his second round.

Jim Herman, the surprise first-round leader on five-under, had yet to tee off thanks to two weather delays lasting more than three hours.

McIlroy opened with a bogey at the par-four 10th and finished his front nine with a bogey at 18.

He pulled a shot back at the par-three fifth hole when he rattled in a five-foot putt, but bogeyed three of his last four holes.

It was a disappointing performance after McIlroy insisted on Thursday he could still turn things around after a three-over 73 in the wind-swept opening round.

McIlroy arrived Stateside for his first US PGA Tour start of 2015 on a high.

In his last 12 tournaments worldwide, McIlroy has four victories and four runner-up finishes, including a win three weeks ago in the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic.

That stretch started with his Open Championship triumph at Hoylake and included a World Golf Championships title at Akron, Ohio, last year and a second straight major crown at the US PGA Championship.

At the Masters, which starts April 9 at Augusta National, McIlroy will be gunning for a third straight major and to complete a career Grand Slam.

He will continue his build up to the first major of the year at the World Golf Championships event at Doral next week, and his first-ever start in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill on March 19-22.

(C) Afp, 2015

Originally published at 08.58

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