The successful defence of his Masters title in April has been followed by a run of disappointing results.

The world number two admitted he was “stuck in neutral” for most of his four rounds at Royal Birkdale.

The Masters champion holed a 20-footer on the second to get to three under, still seven behind leader Sam Burns.

Burns leads the way on 10 under par ahead of Sunday’s final round.

The American was hit with a two-shot penalty after his second round.

The Masters champion ensured he made the cut with a second-round 67 on Friday.

The 37-year-old was hoping to move in contention after a slow start on Thursday.

Conditions were favourable for Friday’s early starters.

The Masters champion was seven shots off the pace after the first round at Royal Birkdale.

Jackson Suber was the unlikely name at the top of the Royal Birkdale leaderboard but the limelight belonged to DeChambeau.

The Masters champion missed numerous opportunities at Royal Birkdale and ran up six bogeys.

Many players have already made changes to their bag to take advantage of the extra roll-out on the fairways.

The Open hopefuls both independently gave answers contemplating their own mortality ahead of this year’s Championship at Royal Birkdale.

Jordan Smith and Tom Kim also sit at the top of the standings, but Scottie Scheffler missed the cut.

After successfully defending his Masters title in April, McIlroy’s major performances have dwindled.

McIlroy, Tom Kim, Bernd Wiesberger and Patrick Cantlay set the early pace with rounds of 65.

The American circuit is moving towards a two-tier model which will introduce more 20million US dollar (£15m), restricted fields for the top golfers.

McIlroy returns to action at the Genesis Scottish Open in North Berwick before heading to Royal Birkdale.

Clark managed to hold off a charge from Sam Burns to win by one shot.

Clark is bidding to become the first wire-to-wire US Open winner since Martin Kaymer in 2014.

The Northern Irishman recovered from an early bogey by picking up three shots in a row.

McIlroy slipped seven off the pace after being in contention at the turn.

McIlroy’s 69 was 11 strokes better than his opening effort at Shinnecock Hills in 2018.

Rory McIlroy was in a larger group on one under but would have been higher had he not bogeyed his final two holes.

The Masters champion is relishing the challenge.

The PGA Tour responded to the threat of LIV Golf by restructuring and creating eight Signature Events.

The third major of the year starts on June 18th at Shinnecock Hills.

The Masters champion is playing only his sixth regular PGA Tour event of the year.

The Northern Irishman stopped off at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island in New York on Monday on his way to this week’s Memorial Tournament in Ohio.

McIlroy was unable to make the Sunday charge he needed, carding a one-under-par 69 to finish five adrift of winner Aaron Rai.

The 31-year-old is the first English winner of the event in over a century.

Heavyweight names including Ryder Cup stars Jon Rahm and Ludvig Aberg were gathered at the top of the leaderboard.

McIlroy has mixed feelings over how the course has played, questioning the packed nature of the leaderboard.

McIlroy was in the rough off the tee at the first but recovered beautifully to make par before he begin his march up the leaderboard.

Lowry began a shot off the lead but a dire six-over round of 76 means he is set to miss the cut.

The defending champion had been among a seven-way tie for the lead.

The collective wealth of Beckham and his wife Victoria passed the billion-pound mark this year.

The 37-year-old finished with four successive bogeys.

The Northern Irishman, bidding to win back-to-back majors and a seventh overall, finished his round with four successive bogeys.

The 37-year-old is bidding to clinch back-to-back majors after defending his Masters title last month.

Victory this week would take McIlroy past Nick Faldo’s tally of six majors and make him the most successful European of the modern era.

Rory McIlroy tees off at 1.40pm BST.

The 37-year-old is bidding to become just the fifth player since 1960 to win the first two majors of the year.