Saturday 28 February 2015 19:38, UK
World No 1 Rory McIlroy crashed out of the Honda Classic after posting a four-over 74 in a rain-affected second round in Palm Beach Gardens.
In a round twice interrupted by bad weather, McIlroy carded five bogeys and just one birdie to move to seven-over, three shots too many to make the weekend in his first PGA Tour outing of the year.
Beginning the day three-over, the Northern Irishman opened with a bogey at the 10th and dropped another shot at the par-five 18th after finding the water with his second shot.
McIlroy missed birdie putts at two and three, before making his only gain of the round by firing his tee-shot at the par-three fifth to within five feet of the hole.
The 2012 winner on the Champion Course then found the bunker at successive holes to card back-to-back bogeys, and added another at the last after three-putting from 50-feet.
The 25-year-old had arrived at PGA National full of confidence after victory at last month's Dubai Desert Classic extended his run to seven top-two European Tour finishes in a row, and was expecting another good weekend in Florida despite an opening round 73.
"I don't like missing cuts," the world No 1 said. "You want to be playing on the weekend, and I'm not going to be playing which is not nice.
"I guess after coming off a three-week break, I felt, I wouldn't say rusty, but just not quite on top of my game yesterday. Today I felt like I was trying to get something going and couldn't.
"Coming off three weeks off and playing in conditions like these, it sort of shows you where your game's at. I've just got to regroup and put some work in and get ready for Miami next week."
Failing to qualify for the weekend ends a run of 22 consecutive cuts made on the PGA Tour for McIlroy, who hadn't missed a cut since last year's Irish Open and has reached the third round of every tournament he's featured at in America since the 2012 US Open.
McIlroy will continue his preparations for April's Masters at next week's World Golf Championships event at Doral, before making his first visit to the Bay Hill Country Club for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill a fortnight later.
