Rory elects to play St Jude Classic

Turmoil: Rory McIlroy’s third consecutive missed cut has forced him to add an event to his schedule

McIlroy adds Memphis event to his schedule in a bid to arrest loss of form

Rory McIlroy has reacted to his run of three consecutive missed cuts by adding next week’s FedEx St Jude Classic to his schedule.

The 23-year-old Northern Irishman, who has only broken 70 twice in ten rounds since the US Open, carded a dismal 79 in the second round of The Memorial Tournament at Murifield Village to miss the weekend’s action by three shots.

This came hot on the heels of missed cuts at Wentworth in the BMW PGA Championship and The Players’ Championship at Sawgrass.

With his US Open defence due to begin at San Francisco’s notoriously difficult Olympic Club one week on Thursday, McIlroy has decided to compete in this week’s FedEx St Jude Classic to see if he can rediscover his form.

“These two-day weeks aren’t really that good for me, so I just want to get some competitive rounds in,” said McIlroy, who is the player in the world’s top 16 entered for the event in Memphis.

“I’m working on a few things, and I feel trying to put them into competition will be the best way for me to prepare going into the US Open.”

You have to go all the way back to August 2008 to find the last time that McIlroy missed three consecutive cuts in a row and he admits he is a bit startled by it.

“It’s more of a shock than anything else, just a little bit surprising, and it’s something I haven’t really had to deal with in a while,” said the world No.2 after his latest early exit from a tournament.

“I’ve still got a long way to go. I’m definitely hitting the ball better than I did last week, so I can see an improvement there. I hit some good shots, it just seems like, every time I go out there, I make one or two big numbers and that sort of throws me.”

After missing the cut at Wentworth last week, McIlroy admitted to having “taken me eye off the ball a little” and some people have suggested that his blossoming romance with tennis ace Caroline Wozniacki is responsible for his loss of form. The pair have been dating for just under a year and McIlroy has been seen courtside at several of the Dane’s tournaments already this year.

He also jetted off to Paris to spend the weekend with her ahead of her French Open title tilt after he missed the cut at Wentworth.

Interestingly, Wozniacki’s form has also fallen away of late. After finishing 2011 ranked No.1 on the ladies’ tennis rankings, she fell out the top five for the first time since 2009 in March. She is currently ninth and surprisingly lost in the third round of the French Open.

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered