Weather excuse for mediocre showing weak from McIlroy

Rory McIlroy's use of the bad weather at the British Open for his failure to challenge was flimsy to say the least.

Rory McIlroy was born and raised in Holywood and still lives in the port town on the outskirts of Belfast. The Northern Ireland capital is a city that has changed much in recent years, but one thing that has remained the same is the weather. It rains. A lot.

Phil Mickelson has never lived anywhere else but California, where the sun shines almost all year round. Ricky Fowler is another Californian, although he has moved to Florida where it is even hotter. So take a guess which of these three complained about the bad weather at last week's British Open?

If Fowler had moaned about the cold, then you would have accepted it as he probably never carries waterproofs with him in the US. Yet he got on with it and tied for fifth place. The same goes for Mickelson, whose troubles with playing in windy conditions are well known. Yet he ignored the wet and cold to finish second, his best performance in this major.

McIlroy could not buy a putt. Too many 12 footers rolled past and he was wild off the tee.

But he put that down to the fact his game is not suited to the British summer and he is much better off when the sun is out. Sorry, Rory, but that doesn't wash. You just didn't play well enough over four days in conditions that, and let's be honest, you grew up in, so enough of the excuses.

He chose not to play between last week and his US Open win and that is probably what did for him, not the rain which he sees every day when he walks out his front door.