Sunday July 17, 2011, 04:49 PM

Rory McIlroy was left bemoaning the state of the English summer weather on Sunday as his hopes of adding the British Open crown to the US Open one he won last month were blown away.

The 22-year-old Ulsterman came into the tournament as favourite thanks to his outstanding performance at Congressional Country Club outside Washington which took place for the most part in hot, sunny conditions.

That was in stark contrast to the deluge that hit him and the rest of the early starters in Saturday's third round when he effectively saw his chances vanish with a poor 74.

And the conditions were not much better on Sunday as gusting winds and the occasional rainy squall swept over the Royal St George's links. On several occasions playing partner Sergio Garcia was seen putting a consoling arm around the younger man's shoulder.

"My game is suited for basically every golf course and most conditions, but these conditions I just don't enjoy playing in really. That's the bottom line," was how McIlroy described his feeling about the last four days after coming in with a 73 which left him well down the field.

"I'd rather play when it's 80 degrees and sunny and not much wind.

"All the amateur tournaments I've won, they were played on links courses but they were all relatively calm. So I just play better and my game is more suited to calm conditions. Just glad I'm in the clubhouse. I'm just glad I'm in."

Some saw these as surprising comments from a player who was brought up, for a large part, playing on the links of his native Northern Ireland where rain and wind are common bedfellows for golfers.

But such was his disgust with how things had gone at Sandwich that McIlroy was adamant he had always felt that way and always would.

"I'm not a fan of golf tournaments that the outcome is predicted so much by the weather. It's not my sort of golf," he said.

"I'm disappointed with the way I finished obviously, but I'll just have to wait until next year to try and make a good run at this tournament.

"I'm looking forward to getting back to America, playing in Akron, and obviously the PGA and the Irish Open is a big one for us, as well. It's a week that I sort of enjoy."

McIlroy had come in for criticism from some quarters for taking three weeks off after Congressional during which time he took in Wimbledon tennis and David Haye's heavyweight boxing match in Hamburg.

And while he defended his preparations for Royal St George's, he agreed that he had been feeling the pressure following talk of him being good enough to one day overhaul Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 Major wins.

"I've won three tournaments as a pro - to start talking about winning 18 Majors and this and that, yeah, that was very premature," he said.

"I'm looking forward to getting home for a week and then going to the Irish Open.

"But I mean, I'm still one of this year's Major winners, so there's always going to be a little bit of expectation and a bit of pressure on you.

"Hopefully if the weather is decent at home, I'm going to spend a few days getting my swing back to where it needs to be.

"You know, the wind sort of messes it up a little bit, so I'll work for two or three days just working on my swing and getting it back into a nice groove."

© 2011 AFP/sid