Golf:Rory McIlroy spoke earlier this week of the need to figure out where his game was going awry before the upcoming US Open, but it is safe to assume the his third hole at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village left the youngster with more questions than answers after he somehow contrived to card a quadruple bogey seven at the par three.

Playing alongside Luke Donald, his rival at the top of the world rankings who was Mr Consistency as usual, the fact that McIlroy managed to battle back to match the world number one’s score of 71 will have been mightily satisfying. But the 12th hole – McIlroy started on the back nine – will have left the youngster scratching his head.

It was a case of out of the frying pan, into the fire, then back into the frying pan for the 23-year-old after narrowly missing the green from 180 yards. Having shortsided himself by pulling his tee shot into a bunker left of the green, McIlroy was left with a tricky lie to a putting surface that slopes steeply towards water.

Although the contact wasn’t all that thin, as the ball passed the hole it picked up pace and ended up wet some 15 feet away. From there, it was back to the drop zone where McIlroy’s fourth again found sand. Having pitched safely out, two putts later the world number two made his way to the 13th shaking his head in bemusement.

With two missed cuts behind him in recent weeks, McIlroy was already looking at another unscheduled weekend kicking his heels. But two quickfire birdies at the 14th and 15th got him moving in the right direction, before two birdies and an eagle on the way home saw him finish on one under.

That was just two shots adrift of clubhouse leaders Andres Romero and Blake Adams, and one behind Tiger Woods, another player attempting to arrest a worrying lack of form. Woods managed to throw in a double bogey at the 18th but four birdies saw him finish on two under.