Golf:After blowing a golden opportunity to win the US Masters in the cruelest of possible ways, few would have blamed a distraught Rory McIlroy for hightailing it out of Augusta National without uttering a word to the waiting media last night.

But the 21-year-old, displaying remarkable maturity despite his tender years, was able to put his collapse in perspective and vowed to bounce back stronger from his final-round horror show.

Four strokes in front after three rounds at Augusta, McIlroy slumped when it really mattered on Sunday, carding 80 as his title hopes evaporated.

Still leading as he stood on the 10th tee, the Ulsterman took a triple-bogey seven on the first hole of the back nine after his tee shot rebounded off a tree and in among the cabins which sit back from the fairway.

It prompted a disastrous run for the 21-year-old and he finished down in a tie for 15th - 10 shots behind eventual champion Charl Schwartzel.

"It will be pretty tough for me for the next few days, but I will get over it," vowed McIlroy, when he fronted up to the media afterwards.

"I will be fine. There are a lot worse things that can happen in your life. Shooting a bad score in the last round of a golf tournament is nothing in comparison to what other people go through."

McIlroy expects to learn from the disappointment and feels he will get further chances to land a major title.

"It is a very disappointing day, obviously, but hopefully I'll learn from it and come back a little stronger," he added.

"It was my first experience of being in the lead going into the last day of a major, and I felt as if I did OK on the front nine, and I was still one shot ahead going into the 10th, and then things went all pear-shaped after that.

"I'll have more chances, I know that."