US Masters: Rory McIlroy mulls over a break after carding 77

Published on Saturday 10 April 2010 00:47

TROUBLED Rory McIlroy appeared to hit a new low in his golf career yesterday when he shot 77 to miss the cut at the Masters and spoke of possibly not playing again until six weeks' time.

"I am just not myself at the moment and this is the sort of golf course that makes your mistakes look even worse when you are slightly off," said the 20-year-old from Northern Ireland.

McIlroy could post only a seven-over-par aggregate a year after finishing 20th on his debut, did not have a birdie yesterday and only two in 36 holes – and one of those was a chip-in. "I just didn't play well and I need a bit of time to get it back on track," he added.

"I don't know what is going on, I just need to take a bit of a break and come back with a refreshed attitude. I am getting frustrated very easily and getting down on myself. I just think that I need to go home and get my head sorted."

The world No11 has been nursing the recurrence of a back problem for over two months and added: "I am supposed to play Quail Hollow (on the US Tour) in a couple of weeks, but I might need a bit more time to let this injury clear up and clear my head.

"Maybe I'll come back at Wentworth (the European Tour's flagship event on 20-23 May) or something. We will see what happens. The back is okay. I can still feel it, but if I rest it then it will be fine.

"I just think the whole game is getting to me at the moment. I just feel like taking a complete break.

"I think it started deteriorating over the weekend of the Dubai Desert Classic. I felt the back then and since then I haven't played well.

"It is partly down to that and also down to the fact that I am just not enjoying it at the moment.

"I am not really worried about the back because it is not long term. It just needs to clear up and once it does it will be fine.

"I have worked hard the last few weeks, but the weeks before that I wasn't able to do what I would have liked and it has been frustrating. I just need to get back out on the course and enjoy it. It might be a struggle to keep the US Tour card, but I am not concerned about that at the moment. I don't think this is due to the expectation on me. I have done all of these great things myself so a lot of that expectation is from myself. Maybe I just need to sit down and tell myself that I am only 20 years old and that things are actually going well for me.

"I have felt this down before – probably the summer of 2008 – but all it takes is one good week and you can be back up there.

"Sometimes I just think I need to get back to the way I was when I was a kid, just going out there and whacking it, finding it and whacking it again."