Missed cut may be reminder for Rory

— -- PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- A gloomy, rainy Friday at PGA National turned even more so for Rory McIlroy, who didn't count on spending this weekend at his nearby home while the rest of the PGA Tour competed without him.

Even the best golfer in the world, the one who has looked all but invincible over the past seven months, has an occasional bad day, bad tournament.

And so it was for McIlroy, who made just a single birdie during the second round of the Honda Classic, shooting 74 to go with his opening 73. He played 36 holes in 7 over par and generally looked pretty average.

Guess that means we can forget about the green jacket in six weeks?

You know that's going to be the knee-jerk reaction in some quarters after McIlroy missed the cut in his 2015 U.S. debut. He missed too many fairways, missed too many greens, missed too many putts.

And that's golf.

"Looking at his results and the way he's been playing and how dominant a driver he is of the golf ball and he's had some past success here ... it's obviously surprising,'' said former world No. 1 Luke Donald. "But I wouldn't worry and read too much into it. Rory has been by far the best player in the world the last year or so.''

No doubt.

Coming into this week, McIlroy had four victories and four second-place finishes in his last 12 worldwide starts going back to his victory at the Open Championship.

Against strong fields on the European Tour, he finished second in Abu Dhabi in January and won in Dubai on Feb. 1.

Three weeks later, McIlroy showed signs of a guy who lost some momentum, perhaps. But his game? Seems a mighty stretch.

"I wouldn't say I was rusty, but I just was not quite on top of my game yesterday,'' McIlroy said. "And then today I felt like I was trying to get something going and couldn't. Coming off three weeks off and playing conditions like these, it sort of shows you where your game's at. Just got to regroup and put some work in and get ready for Miami next week.''

McIlroy didn't talk like a guy who is only thinking about the Masters. That tournament clearly is the big prize for him at this point, a chance to win a third straight major championship as well as complete the career Grand Slam.

But the Masters is not won in late February and early March, and the idea that he could continue to be on top of his game every single week is unrealistic. There's nothing wrong with a little reminder that it isn't always going to be as easy as he has made it look.

"I'm not really thinking of Augusta,'' he said. "I'm thinking of next week and just trying to play four solid rounds. The good thing about next week is we do have four rounds that we can get into some sort of rhythm.

"Hopefully we won't have to contend with conditions like they were this week, because it has been really good on the range the last couple weeks and it's been good in practice. Just wasn't so good over the last couple days.''

If anything, McIlroy's struggles offer some perspectives on the game's difficulties. It was the first time since last summer's Irish Open that McIlroy failed to qualify for the weekend.

But it was his 29th worldwide missed cut and 11th on the PGA Tour. Compare that to Tiger Woods, who has missed just 13 total worldwide and 12 on the PGA Tour and you can see that McIlroy has not attained anywhere near that level of consistency.

Then again, comparing anyone to Woods in terms of missed cuts is a bit silly. His standard is impossible, really. Phil Mickelson, for example, has missed 72 cuts as a pro. (It should be noted that McIlroy missed 10 cuts in 2008 on the European Tour when he was 19 years old, his first full year as a pro.)

"It's a tough golf course,'' said Brooks Koepka, who played with McIlroy the first two rounds and battled back to make the cut after an opening-round 78. "Especially with the wind and everything. Yeah, it's surprising. He's the best player in the world right now. Any time he struggles, I think it would be a shock to everyone.''

Those are the kind of expectations that come with being No. 1. McIlroy had a minor setback this week, but nothing that anyone should be concerned about.

It's golf.