The US Open champion was right in contention at the halfway stage, but his chance disappeared with a third round 77.

He followed that with a 76 on Sunday to finish well down the field in on five over for the tournament.

However, the Northern Irishman was able to smile through his disappointment and was quick to point out that he had improved on his third round score.

"It's one better than yesterday!" McIlroy joked. "It wasn't great, I got off to another bad start and didn't recover.

"It's tough to take - coming into the weekend I felt I had a chance but the way I blew up on the first nine holes on Saturday (taking 42 strokes to the turn) wasn't great."