Rory McIlroy explains emergency range session at the Masters after damning admission

Rory McIlroy is just missing the Masters to complete the Grand Slam but it's a tournament he's struggled to get a grip on and this year has been no different for him

Rory McIlroy has explained his emergency trip the range on Friday evening was to ensure he got some rhythm back into his swing.

The Ulsterman shot a 77, 5-over, in his second round at the Masters, all but ruling himself out of fighting for a green jacket. A double bogey at Hole 11 particularly hurt his chances. Following his round, McIlroy confessed his swing felt 'horrific' due to the amount of waiting around he endured.

The weather caused havoc on Friday, slowing golf down to the point McIlroy's group took six hours to complete their round. It's because of this, McIlroy sought out the range on Friday evening in a bid to get some consistency back into his game. He wasn't the only one either as Scottie Scheffler also put in the hard yards after his round.

It seemingly worked. McIlroy came out on Saturday and shot 1-under to go back to 3-over for the tournament. After submitting his scorecard, McIlroy explained his late-night trip to the range.

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"I just needed to get some rhythm. It was so start/stop yesterday, and I didn't have any fluid in my golf swing because of that," he said. "I just wanted to go and try and find some rhythm last night.

"I only hit 10, 15 minutes, but definitely felt better as well. As the wind is coming down you start getting out of sync. It was better to make some normal golf swings and hit some normal shots. Definitely hit it a bit better today."

His iron weakness was something former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley had picked up on. Assessing his round on Friday, he said: “His iron play was poor. That is what he has really struggled with this year. He improved last week after going to see Butch Harmon in Las Vegas and finished third at the Valero Texas Open.

"But he has been back struggling with the irons in Augusta. I hate to see it happen. He is not playing very well. That’s the bottom line. Players come in and out of form. And Rory is not in good form at the moment."

But McIlroy believes he is improving, despite Friday's setback Asked if his work throughout the year with his irons is working, McIlroy replied: "I think so. I made good progress last week in San Antonio, my strokes gained numbers and approach was good. I thought my - I would say my strokes gained approach numbers today were probably pretty good. So it's getting better. It's definitely better than what it was through the Florida swing."