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Rory McIlroy makes his Open Championship appearance a reality with a fast breakaway

Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods’ private jets left Prestwick on Saturday morning, heading for completely different destinations after their disappointing performances at The Open Championship.

McIlroy admitted last week that he was longing for a holiday and a shocking start to the second round in a stiff wind at Royal Troon on Friday left him dreaming of a sunny getaway. After finishing on 11-over-par on the Ayrshire coast, the world No. 2 missed the cut by five strokes and still has time to spare before he returns to action for the FedEx Cup Playoffs next month.




The Gulfstream 5 jet registered to the 35-year-old took off at around 10am, according to Radar Atlas, and was headed to Faro in Portugal. It comes after McIlroy told The Telegraph last week that he wanted to enjoy life more.

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“I need to take a step back and appreciate what I’ve done in my career and in my life and enjoy my success,” McIlroy said. “I don’t really enjoy my success — and I’d say I haven’t for the last five years. I probably haven’t taken a vacation in four or five years. So I think just taking a step back and enjoying myself a little bit more, away from my game, is the key. Have fun.”

McIlroy began his second round outside the cut line on Friday, needing early birdies to have any chance of playing the weekend. Instead, he went six-over-par through his first six holes, including a disastrous eight on the par-five fourth. At that point, McIlroy knew his tournament was effectively over.

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Tiger Woods missed the cut at The Open on Friday(Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

“I think when I made the 8 on the fourth hole, that was it. 22 holes into the event and I’m thinking about where I’m going to go on vacation next week,” McIlroy said. “That was it, really. I had kind of resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to go four or five under from that point on to make the cut. Yeah, it was a pretty meaningful 14 holes after that.”

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