McIlroy sets his sights on British Open

McIlroys disastrous closing round of 80 on Sunday sent him crashing from leader by four shots to ten shots behind winner Charl Schwartzel.

It was a collapse reminiscent of Nick Faldos final Masters triumph, 15 years ago, when the English golfer won after Greg Norman slid to a closing round of 78, going from six strokes ahead to five behind.

"Hes young and I am sure he will regroup and come back stronger," said Faldo. "He was thrown in at the deep end and this is a serious deep end. You are there on your own, things get out of sync and you lose your tempo."

McIlroy remained philosophical and vowed to learn from the defeat.

"There are a lot worse things that can happen in your life," added the Northern Irishman. "Shooting a bad score in the last round of a golf tournament is nothing in comparison to what other people go through. Hopefully, if I can get myself back into this position pretty soon Ill handle it a little bit better."

McIlroys triple-bogey seven on the tenth, when still one in front, was the catalyst for his spectacular collapse.

World No.2 Lee Westwood, who finished 11th, admitted: "Ive played with Rory a lot. When he gets under a bit of pressure he does have a pull hook in his bag."

McIlroy will hope to put his Masters meltdown behind him in time for the British Open in July, but winner Schwartzel backs him to succeed.

"Golf is a really funny game. One moment you're on top of it and the next it bites you. He's such a phenomenal player. He'll win one. He's going to be disappointed and he's going to feel hurt, but he's a good enough player to come back out and win."

British Open tickets are available online

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