The former world number one carded a second round of 75 in the British Open -- four strokes better than his opening effort of 79 -- but nowhere near enough to punch his ticket for the weekend in the year's third major.

It is the first time that he has missed the cut in The Open in six

attempts, although he has only finished in the top 20 once -- at St Andrews in 2010 when he tied for third behind Louis Oosthuizen.

Still, McIlroy sounded more upbeat than he was on Thursday when he described his state of mind out on the course as if he as "unconscious" or "brain-dead".

This time, he took some comfort from the fact that he stayed on par playing down Muirfield's testing last nine holes at a time when others on Friday evening were shedding strokes.

Much has been made of McIlroy's change of golfing equipment providers at the start of the year, saying that was responsible for his loss of form after a great finish to 2012 which saw him win his second major at the PGA Championship and take the world number one spot.

Others have pointed to his 24-year-old mind not being fully focused on his golfing career, with his high profile romance with Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki coming under increasing scrutiny. (AFP)