Rory McIlroy fizzes at disastrous Open start as golf star hits train line and faces grim reality of missing cut

Ravaged Rory McIlroy hit the train line as his Open bid crashed off the tracks at Troon.

The Northern Irishman suffered a disastrous first day in Ayrshire. McIlroy was licked by the Postage Stamp when he needed two to escape a greenside bunker for a double-bogey at the signature and notorious par-three eighth. The 35-year-old followed that with another double as he smashed a wayward drive out of bounds at the railway line three holes later.

McIlroy’s 78 has left him in a desperate position and was a nightmare way to start back in Majors following his calamitous last-gasp defeat at June’s US Open. The World No.2 contended on his return from a three-week lay-off at the Genesis Scottish Open last week, but it started horribly in the charge for the Claret Jug. McIlroy said: “It was definitely tricky. It was difficult. You plan, you play your practice rounds and you try to come up with a strategy that you think is going to get you around the course.

“Then, when the wind is like that, other options present themselves and you start to second guess yourself a little bit. I’ve come in here playing really well. I played well at The Renaissance last week. If anything, it was more like the conditions got the better of me. Those cross-winds.

“I felt like I did okay for the first part of the round and then missed the green at the Postage Stamp, left it in and made a double. I still felt like I was in reasonable enough shape being a couple over through nine, thinking that I could maybe get those couple shots back, try to shoot even par, something like that. Then hitting the ball out of bounds on the 11th, making a double there.

“Even though the wind on the back nine was helping, it was a lot off the left. I was actually surprised how