Alfred Dunhill Report: Rory McIlroy's bid for more world rankings points failed to yield dividends today after the teenager missed the halfway cut at the Alfred Dunhill Championship. A level par round of 72 was not enough to maintain the 19-year-old's involvement over the weekend as he missed out by a single stroke.
While unlikely to see him fall out of the world's top 50 (he is currently 49th), McIlroy will now be hoping for a better performance at next week's South African Open as he looks to secure a berth in next season's US Masters.
McIlroy could only manage a level par 72 in today's erratic second round. His card contained no less than six birdies but the good work was unravelled by four bogeys and a double bogey at the par four 14th as he finished on one-under.
McIlroy's former Walker Cup team-mate Jonathan Caldwell and Damien McGrane head the Irish challenge at Leopard Creek. Both are on seven-under par, four shots behind Sweden's Oskar Henningsson and England's Robert Rock and American Len Mattiace.
Caldwell, McIlroy's playing partner in last year's Walker Cup at Royal County Down, made a fine impression at the outset of his fledgling professional career. Starting at the 10th, he raced to within four shots of the lead after a round of 67.
McGrane, who captured a first European title at the China Open earlier in the year, came home in 66 to join Caldwell at seven-under.
Gareth Maybin (three-under) will also be in action over the weekend but Michael Hoey (one-over) and Gary Murphy (five-over) join McIlroy in making early exits.
Rock picked up five shots in the last six holes to surge into a share of the lead. Rock fired a five-under-par 67 to set the early pace in the clubhouse on 11-under before being joined by Mattiace (68) and Henningsson (64).
The trio were one ahead of South African Richard Sterne (66).
Rock, chasing his maiden European Tour win, found his putting stroke on the back nine for the second day in a row.
"The front nine is tougher and I didn't play particularly well," he told reporters. "I three-putted the fifth and that took me back to level for the day and I was really going quite slowly at that point."
After the turn the 31-year-old Englishman rallied with three consecutive birdies from the 13th before closing with back-to-back birdies, narrowly missing a 10-foot eagle putt at the last.
Collated Scores
133Robert Rock 66 67, Len Mattiace (USA) 65 68, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 69 64
134Richard Sterne (Rsa) 68 66
135Tyrone Mordt (Rsa) 68 67, John E Morgan 67 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68 67, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 68 67, Johan Edfors (Swe) 66 69
136Warren Abery (Rsa) 68 68, David Lynn 68 68, Lee Westwood 66 70
137 Jonathan Caldwell70 67, Damien McGrane71 66, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 72 65, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 68 69, Neil Cheetham 68 69, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 68 69, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 70 67, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 67 70, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 69 68, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 65 72, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 70 67, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 66 71
138Hennie Otto (Rsa) 69 69, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 69 69, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 70 68, Estanislao Goya (Arg) 70 68, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 68 70, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 70 68, Tc Charamba (Zim) 70 68
139Gary Lockerbie 68 71, Chris Wood 69 70, Sam Walker 71 68, Robert Dinwiddie 69 70, Branden Grace (Rsa) 70 69, Keith Horne (Rsa) 70 69
140Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 73 67, Andrew Coltart 70 70, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 71 69, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 70, Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 69 71, Iain Pyman 71 69, David Dixon 70 70, Mark Murless (Rsa) 70 70, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 69
141Garry Houston 72 69, Callum Macaulay 72 69, Jamie Little 72 69, Marcus Higley 71 70, Gareth Maybin72 69, Jake Roos (Rsa) 72 69, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 75 66
142Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 71 71, James Kingston (Rsa) 73 69, Danny Willett 72 70, Simon Dyson 71 71, Bradford Vaughan (Rsa) 71 71, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 68 74, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 72 70, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 73 69, David Horsey 72 70, Alan McLean 68 74, Albert Pistorius (Rsa) 71 71, Seve Benson 68 74, Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 71 71, David Drysdale 71 71, Taco Remkes (Ned) 72 70, Justin Walters (Rsa) 72 70, Ross McGowan 70 72
The following players failed to make the cut
143Prinavin Nelson (Rsa) 70 73, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 71, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 72 71, Euan Little 71 72, Scott Drummond 70 73, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 73 70, Andrew Curlewis (Rsa) 71 72, Wil Besseling (Ned) 71 72, Rory McIlroy71 72, Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 75 68, Mark Foster 73 70
144Desvonde Botes (Rsa) 72 72, Alex Haindl (Rsa) 70 74, Titch Moore (Rsa) 69 75, Steve Basson (Rsa) 73 71, Brett Liddle (Rsa) 70 74, Divan Van Den Heever (Rsa) 76 68, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 71 73, Stuart Manley 75 69, Gary Clark 75 69, Louis Moolman (Rsa) 74 70, Inder Van Weerelt (Ned) 70 74, James Kamte (Rsa) 71 73, Christopher Doak 73 71, Steve Van Vuuren (Rsa) 73 71, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 73 71
145Reggie Adams (Rsa) 73 72, John Mellor 74 71, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 74 71, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 77 68, Doug McGuigan 72 73, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 78 67, Sion Bebb 74 71, Antti Ahokas (Fin) 71 74, Chris Williams (Rsa) 71 74, Raveloarison Johary (Mad) 71 74, Michael Hoey70 75
146Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 69 77, Lee Slattery 80 66, Richie Ramsay 76 70, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 72 74, Teboho Sefatsa (Rsa) 72 74, Nic Henning (Rsa) 76 70
147Paul Waring 75 72, Andre Cruse (Rsa) 72 75, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 80 67, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 72 75, Thabang Simon (Rsa) 72 75, Federico Colombo (Ita) 72 75, Dion Fourie (Rsa) 73 74, Jonathan Lomas 76 71, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 74 73, Alan Michell (Rsa) 73 74
148Grant Muller (Rsa) 75 73, Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 71 77, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 72 76, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 74 74, Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa) 74 74
149Anton Haig (Rsa) 80 69, Marco Ruiz (Par) 75 74, Ake Nilsson (Rsa) 75 74, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 73 76, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 70 79, Gary Murphy76 73, Rossouw Loubser (Rsa) 74 75
150Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 78 72, Jeremy Kavanagh 77 73, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 78 72, Stuart Davis 75 75, Dean Lambert (Rsa) 73 77, Willie Van Der Merwe (Rsa) 69 81, Richard Finch 71 79, Wallie Coetsee (Rsa) 76 74, Atti Schwartzel (Rsa) 74 76
151Ross Wellington (Rsa) 76 75, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 81 70
152Merrick Bremner (Rsa) 75 77, Michael Dreyer (Rsa) 79 73
153Omar Sandys (Rsa) 78 75
154Lindani Ndwandwe (Rsa) 78 76
155Ariel Canete (Arg) 82 73, Ryan Tipping (Rsa) 78 77, Mohammed Tayob (Rsa) 71 84
158Grant Veenstra (Rsa) 75 83, Lorenzo null Gagli (Ita) 84 74
159Tota Thimba jnr (Rsa) 82 77
