Rory McIlroy: Grading Rory's British Open Performance

Rory McIlroy followed up his terrible U.S. Open performance with another disappointing result at the 2012 British Open this week.

McIlroy made the cut at Royal Lytham & St. Annes golf club, which he failed to do at the U.S. Open, but after the first round, he was never a contender.

He still has one more opportunity to win a major championship this season when the PGA Championship commences on August 9 in South Carolina.

Let's grade his performance at the British Open.

Consistency

McIlroy started the tournament with a great first-round performance in which he made six birdies for a score of three under par.

His second-round performance was awful. He shot a five over 75, which put him in danger of missing the cut. His third- and fourth-round performances were a bit better, but he shot a three over 73 in each of them.

Overall, consistency was one of the weakest parts of McIlroy's British Open performance.

Grade: D

Front Nine and Back Nine Performance

Here is a breakdown of McIlroy's performance at the British Open.

	Front Nine	Back Nine
Round 1	2 birdies	4 birdies, 1 bogey, 1 double bogey
Round 2	2 birdies, 2 bogeys, 1 double bogey	3 bogeys
Round 3	3 bogeys	1 birdie, 1 bogey
Round 4	2 bogeys, 1 triple bogey	2 birdies, 1 bogey
Totals	4 birdies, 9 bogeys	7 birdies, 7 bogeys

McIlroy was quite poor on the front nine, which cannot happen if you want to compete at a major championship.

Getting off to a good start is so important for players like McIlroy who are struggling and need some confidence to perform well.

Front Nine Grade: F

Back Nine Grade: C-

Driving and Putting

Here are some notable stats from McIlroy's tournament.

Avg. Driving Distance	Driving Accuracy	GIR	Putts per GIR
304.6 yards	51.8 percent	58.3 percent	2.9

McIlroy was able to drive the ball good distances throughout the tournament, which isn't a surprise, but his accuracy was poor in every round. A 51.8-percent rating is not anywhere near acceptable if you are going to compete for a major championship.

His putting also wasn't strong, and it's an area on which McIlroy must improve if he ever wants to be an elite player again.

Driving Grade: D-

Putting Grade: D

Overall Grade: D 

McIlroy has a lot of work to do if he is going to win a second major championship. There weren't any encouraging signs from his British Open performance, and there's little reason to believe he will be a contender at the PGA Championship.