Rory McIlroy's wait for fifth major goes on after he finishes 151st Open Championship on six-under

RORY’S FULL ROUND HOLE-BY-HOLE:

1st: Par

2nd: Par

3rd: Birdie

4th: Birdie

5th: Birdie

6th: Par

7th: Par

8th: Par

9th: Par

10th: Bogey

11th: Par

12th: Par

13th: Par

14th: Birdie

15th: Par

16th: Bogey

17th: Birdie

18th: Par

Breakdown

After consecutive pars in his opening two holes, McIlroy then went on a run of three straight birdies to improve his score to -6, moving into a tie for second with Jon Rahm and Cameron Young as the trio pursue current leader Brian Harman on -11.

McIlroy holed from 50 feet for birdie on the third and 15 feet on the next to join Tommy Fleetwood and Alex Fitzpatrick on five under par but then moved ahead of the English duo after finding yet another birdie at the fifth.

Playing alongside Emiliano Grillo, McIlroy struck his fourth par at the seventh and after striking to within 12 feet on the ninth, gave himself a great opportunity to further claw back the gap to Harman but his putt didn’t have the required accuracy as he posted three under for the front-nine.

His bid for victory was dealt a blow on the tenth hole as he dropped a further shot back following a bogey while Rahm moved into second on -7.

McIlroy hit the fairway on 11 and putted from 28 feet for birdie, which despite an excellent attempt, failed to find the hole as he walked away with par to remain on -5.

Further pars followed on 12 and 13 but he was mightily unlucky not to sink a massive putt on the 13th with the line looking right but the ball ran agonisingly past the hole.

After an extended wait, McIlroy was back amongst the birdies on 14 as he found the fairway before putting his third shot to within 10 feet and finished the job off by slotting it in, moving to -6 in the process but still six shots adrift of Harman.

He gave himself another great chance to move into a share of second and continue the momentum on 15, but his putt from 10 feet veered right despite having perfect pace.

A monstrous drive on the 16th had McIlroy in the middle of the fairway but he couldn’t make the most of it as his second shot landed on the wrong side of the green before rolling down the hill.

He couldn’t recover from the position with his par putt rolling around the cup and out, essentially putting an end to any title hopes as he walked to 17 with a bogey.

While undoubtedly too little, too late, McIlroy produced a stunning putt from 15 feet on the par-three 17th to pick up a fifth birdie of his round and second on the back nine.

McIlroy had the opportunity to finish his mixed round with consecutive birdies – just like during victory at the Scottish Open last week – after recovering superbly from a tee shot on 18 which landed amongst the fans, but his effort from 25 feet failed to drop as he ended the tournament on -6 and three-under for the day.