The Northern Irishman has endured a tough two months with faulty form resulting in him crashing out at The Players Championship, BMW Championship, The Memorial and now the US Open

For many, four missed cuts from the past five tournaments would constitute a crisis - not for world No.2 Rory McIlroy.

The Northern Irishman has endured a tough two months with faulty form resulting in him crashing out at The Players Championship, BMW Championship and The Memorial.

Now added to that is the hugely unsuccessful defence of his US Open title with rounds of 77 and 73 meaning yet another missed cut.

The Northern Irishman has endured a tough two months with faulty form resulting in him crashing out at The Players Championship, BMW Championship, The Memorial and now the US Open

McIlroy looked out of sorts at the Olympic Club in San Francisco as the terribly tough setup, beloved of the USGA for their premier event, was too much for him to master.

He finished on 10-over-par, two shots back from the cut line and a full 19 shots worse than at the same stage when on his way to victory at Congressional last year.

It adds to a run of form that has many questioning his current commitment to a sport this time 12 months ago he looked set to dominate.

However, while a poor title defence would have many worried, the 23-year-old is convinced his game is

in good shape.

“I felt I really turned a corner last week (he was seventh in Memphis and shared the lead until a closing double bogey), but this course is so punishing,” McIlroy said.

“Obviously I’m disappointed. It wasn’t the way I wanted to play, but, to be honest, overall I don’t feel like I played that badly.

“You really have to be so precise out there. We’re just not used to playing this sort of course week-in, week-out.

“You have to adapt and adjust and I wasn’t able to do that very well.” Asked how humbling the past month and a bit has been, McIlroy replied: “It has been. You realise you’ve just got to keep working hard - it doesn’t come easy to you all the time.

“But I still see enough good stuff and that gives me hope that it’s not very far away.” Up next for McIlroy is the Irish Open at Royal Portrush, an historic track on which he set the course record 61 when aged just 16.

The Northern Irishman wasn’t the only star to suffer a San Francisco shocker, with Luke Donald also missing the cut. The world No.1 posted a second round 72 to end on 11 over.