McIlroy frustrated after 79 knocks him out of contention

With another hole on the back nine swirled in frustration, Rory McIlroy took his just-putted ball and tossed it away, walking off No. 15 with a heavy sigh.

But his round, a watery 7-over 79, can’t be thrown away. It will stick, and it will keep McIlroy from contention.

McIlroy, at one point just three shots off the lead, fell apart on the second nine in Saturday’s third round, finding water on two different holes as he fell to 5-over for the tournament and 12 shots off the lead.

McIlroy shot 42 on the back nine.

“It’s disappointing, especially after such a good start,” McIlroy said. “I was only a few off the lead going into the 7th hole today. All the sudden, I play 7 through 11 5-over par. That’s basically my chances in the tournament gone. It’s very disappointing.”

McIlroy said the wind changed on him on 11 and 15, the two holes he carded 7s on – a triple-bogey and then a double-bogey – to make him stumble from the leaderboard and spark frustration.

“The wind switched on me. It comes up short in the water and I take 7 there,” McIlroy said about No. 11. “And I never recovered from that.”

On No. 15, McIlroy got the ball onto the green before he had to watch it blow back into the water.

Not only did he toss the ball away immediately after he three-putted 15, but he then left his tee shot on 16 short of the bunker. McIlroy gave confused looks to his caddie: another bad hole was born.

No. 16 would end with a bogey.

The woes followed a promising beginning. McIlroy’s first tee shot split the fairway, and he sank a birdie putt on No. 3 to go to 3-under. On those early holes, McIlroy would set himself for no worse than a tap-in for par.

“The first six holes I played nearly perfectly,” he said.

But a bogey on 7 stopped the charge, and then McIlroy ran into another weekend of troubles on the back nine at Augusta National Golf Club.

Two years ago, an 80 on Sunday ended his chances as he fell from first to tied for 15th.

Last year, McIlroy was in third going into Saturday’s round before 77 took him out.

This year he carded a 79 on Saturday, his second-worst round at the Masters.

“It’s just another frustrating day here,” he said.