Rory McIlroy completely whiffs chip shot during final round of the Memorial Tournament

Rory McIlroy suffered a rare mishap around the greens when he completely whiffed a chip shot from a difficult lie on the par-five seventh hole during the final round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.

The 37-year-old Northern Irishman made a flying start to the final round, carding five birdies through his opening six holes to quickly climb the leaderboard and build momentum.

After finding the fairway with a perfect tee shot at the seventh, McIlroy looked poised to continue his charge. 

From 229 yards, the world number two took aim at the green with an opportunity to put further pressure on the leader, who was still six shots ahead at the time.

However, things quickly unravelled.

McIlroy's approach finished well right of the green in thick rough above a bunker, leaving him with an awkward stance — one foot near the sand and the other on higher ground. 

Faced with a notoriously difficult lie, McIlroy attempted to play a delicate chip from the heavy grass.

Instead, his wedge slid completely underneath the ball and he failed to make contact, resulting in a rare whiff. 

It's the type of mistake that can occur when the ball is sitting significantly above a player's feet, but it was still a surprising sight from a six-time major champion.

McIlroy's second attempt fared little better.

Although he made contact this time, the club snagged slightly in the rough and the ball raced through the green into more thick grass on the opposite side.

To his credit, McIlroy recovered well from there, but the damage had already been done. 

He eventually walked away with a disappointing bogey on one of the easiest holes at Muirfield Village.

The costly mistake halted his momentum at a crucial stage of the final round and effectively ended any realistic hopes of mounting a late challenge for the title.

Despite recording 30 PGA Tour victories during his illustrious career, McIlroy has never managed to win Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament.

Even so, there still appear positives to take from his final-round performance, which is still in progress. 

His strong start to the final round should provide encouragement heading into the U.S. Open in two weeks' time.

Keep track of McIlroy's round here

McIlroy has opted to skip next week's RBC Canadian Open, choosing instead to spend time with his family and fine-tune his game ahead of the year's third major championship.

He will be chasing a seventh major title and a second U.S. Open crown. 

McIlroy captured his first major championship at the U.S. Open in 2011 with a dominant eight-shot victory at Congressional.