Rory McIlroy misses cut for third straight year at US Open

Rory McIlroy's back-nine fightback was not enough for him to avoid a third consecutive missed cut at the US Open.

The 29-year-old required a round in the 60s at Shinnecock Hills to extend his tournament following his torrid 80 on day one, but he left himself a mountain to climb when he covered the front nine in four over before a four-birdie inward half at least restored his pride as he closed on 10 over par.

Needing a fast start to repair the damage of day one, McIlroy missed a good chance from 15 feet at the first before making his task even harder with a three-putt from long distance at the second.

McIlroy was unable to better par over the next four holes, and he needed another three putts to get down after a poor tee shot to the seventh.

His mood darkened further when he carved his drive way right at the ninth, forcing him to pitch back out to the fairway, and he compounded the error by coming up short with his third.

McIlroy pitched to 12 feet and two-putted for a double-bogey and an outward 39, which left him needing something spectacular on the inward nine to get in for the weekend.

And he came close to obliging as he played comfortably his best golf of the week and picked up birdies at the 11th and 13th before adding back-to-back gains at 16 and 17.

But his charge was too little too late, although he had done enough to salvage respectability by the time he tapped in for a par at the last to cap a level-par 70, leaving him two strokes outside the cut mark.

"I felt like my game was good coming in here, I think I was just blown away by the wind yesterday," said a despondant McIlroy afterwards. "I haven't played in wind like that for quite a long time, and I just felt like I couldn't hit it far enough left or right to allow for the wind.

"There were a lot of crosswinds yesterday and I felt, on holes like the third, I couldn't aim far enough left to keep it in the fairway, so just stuff like that. You get yourself out of position on this golf course, really you give yourself a bogey and move on.

"Today I hit 17 out of 18 greens and I did a lot of good stuff. Obviously the conditions were conducive for that. Yesterday I just wish I could have maybe just had one day to prepare for something like that. I feel like it would have been a different story.

"It's a tough tournament. I have prepared well here in the last few years and I came in here with the right attitude. Even after yesterday I felt like I could come in today and shoot in the 60s and make it to the weekend. Obviously I played the front nine well, but I didn't putt very well.

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"I knew the conditions were good on the back nine. I knew I had some chances to have some short irons in my hand and I was just trying to look at every flag and hit it there and try to make some putts.

"I maybe could have squeezed one more on the back nine, but it still would have been short of what I would have needed. The first 27 holes for me were obviously what did it."