World number one Rory McIlroy made a frank admission after his worst-ever tournament performance in Europe.
"I think I might have taken my eye off the ball a bit," said McIlroy after collapsing to a second round 79 in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
It meant a second successive missed cut following his early exit from the Players Championship in Florida a fortnight ago and at nine over par - he started the event with a 74 - the US Open champion crashed out an incredible 21 strokes behind runaway halfway leader James Morrison.
Before the wind got up world number 236 Morrison, who switched to golf after playing for the England youth cricket team alongside current Test stars Alastair Cook and Tim Bresnan, added a sparkling 64 to his opening 68.
At 12 under par the 27-year-old moved four clear of world number two Luke Donald, who won the title at only six under last year, and Scot David Drysdale.
Donald now needs only a top eight finish to take the number one spot back off in what would be the sixth change at the top in under three months.
"It's just a week I'd like to forget," added the 23-year-old McIlroy.
"I just feel I've lacked competitive rounds and maybe just not practising as hard as I might have been.
"Maybe it's a good thing I have the next two days off to practise. Everything was not really on song. I just have to go and work hard and try to get it back."
It is less than three weeks now to his defence of the US Open and he has only one event left to try to build confidence for that - next week's Memorial in Ohio.
McIlroy, whose week also included a club-throwing show of frustration that is likely to result in a European Tour fine, fell apart around the turn for the second day running.
One under par and inside the cut mark after seven holes, he double-bogeyed the next and then had five bogeys in a row.
A par at the short 14th was almost a cause for celebration - he had to get up and down from sand for that - but when he double-bogeyed the next after another bad drive only five players in the 150-strong field were below him.
It needed a two-putt birdie at the par five last for him to break 80.
"I really wanted to make four. It's not nice to play like this and not nice two weeks (he meant tournament weeks) in a row," he said.
At the Players he shot 72 and 76 and missed the cut by four. He was double that amount as he headed away this time.
His previous worst finish in Europe as a professional was 116th - in the same event three years ago when he followed a 74 with a 77.
Morrison had earlier jumped out of the shadows by following six birdies with a 25-foot eagle putt on the 539-yard last.
His story is a remarkable one. The 27-year-old did not start golf until he was 16, but went from 18-handicap to scratch in 10 months.
That prompted him to give up cricket, despite his final game for Surrey Under-17s being an innings of 114 not out.
"I haven't really looked back," he said.
"Playing golf is better than standing in the field all day."
The money is better too. He has already won over around £750,000 despite his only Tour title being the relatively minor Madeira Irelands Open in 2010 - and first prize this weekend is almost £600,000.
As for what he faces over the closing 36 holes Morrison, who was joint leader with a round to go in the French Open last summer and went in the water on the first two holes, is not getting ahead of himself.
"I expect a lot, but if I shoot 80 or 65 I'll take what I can from it," he said.
"I desperately, desperately, desperately want to keep going forward and that's my problem sometimes - I'm too eager, too keen, too determined I guess.
"I've been playing great, but been getting in the way of myself. I'm going to do my best and that's all I can do."
Donald is form favourite for the title, however, after his second successive 68.
Open champion Darren Clarke crashed out as well - he has still to make a cut all year - and so did three-major winner Padraig Harrington and 2009 champion Paul Casey on his latest return from injury.
World number three Lee Westwood, out of bounds with his drive as he followed bogeys on the 15th and 16th with a double bogey seven at the next, was in severe danger of missing the cut at that point.
But he got up and down from sand on the last for a birdie, a 75 and a one-over total that he knew was likely to be just good enough to survive to the weekend.
McIlroy finished in joint 133rd place, while compatriot Graeme McDowell missed the cut by two shots after finishing with three bogeys - two of them sixes - for three over.
He would have made it through but for the two-stroke penalty on the final hole of his first round, one for his ball moving a fraction in the trees and the other for not replacing it.
Collated second-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
132 James Morrison 68 64
136 David Drysdale 66 70, Luke Donald 68 68
137 Peter Lawrie 66 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 67 70
138 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 70, Branden Grace (Rsa) 69 69, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 67, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 70, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 67, Justin Rose 67 71, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 70, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 68
139 Pablo Martin (Spa) 69 70, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 68, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 70
140 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 71, Gareth Maybin 70 70, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 69, Danny Willett 69 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 67 73, Paul Lawrie 69 71, Jamie Donaldson 67 73, David Higgins 70 70
141 Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 71 70, Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 73, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 70, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 68 73, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 70 71
142 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 72, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 71, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 67 75, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 69 73, Kenneth Ferrie 68 74, Gregory Havret (Fra) 75 67
143 Steve Webster 69 74, Damien McGrane 71 72, Colin Montgomerie 69 74, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 74 69, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 72 71, Scott Jamieson 68 75, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 72, Richard Finch 76 67, Federico Colombo (Ita) 69 74, Bradley Dredge 71 72
144 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 70 74, Chris Wood 73 71, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 74 70, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 70, Brett Rumford (Aus) 70 74, Robert Rock 68 76, Marc Warren 68 76, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 74 70, Ian Poulter 71 73, Paul McGinley 73 71
145 James Kingston (Rsa) 71 74, Paul Streeter 71 74, Ben Curtis (USA) 70 75, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 75, Tommy Fleetwood 72 73, Shane Lowry 71 74, Sam Little 72 73, Lee Westwood 70 75, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 69 76, George Coetzee (Rsa) 68 77, Julien Quesne (Fra) 74 71, Oscar Floren (Swe) 74 71, Alex Cejka (Ger) 75 70, Simon Khan 71 74, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 72 73, Richard Green (Aus) 72 73
----------------------The following players failed to make the cut---------------------
146 Anders Hansen (Den) 73 73, Phillip Price 73 73, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 72 74, Matthew Cort 74 72, David Lynn 72 74, Romain Wattel (Fra) 72 74, Mark Foster 72 74, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 75 71
147 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 77, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 73 74, Graeme McDowell 74 73, Ross Fisher 75 72, Peter Whiteford 77 70, Greig Hutcheon 73 74, David Howell 73 74, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 74 73, Matthew Zions (Aus) 72 75, Johan Edfors (Swe) 71 76, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 73 74, Shaun Micheel (USA) 73 74, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 74 73, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 74 73
148 Richie Ramsay 69 79, Estanislao Goya (Arg) 74 74, Robert Coles 75 73, Ricardo Santos (Por) 74 74, Tom Lewis 70 78, Darren Clarke 71 77, Lee Slattery 71 77, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 68 80, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 73 75, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 73 75, Rich Beem (USA) 75 73, Martin Laird 73 75, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 75 73
149 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 78 71, Joost Luiten (Ned) 76 73, Simon Lilly 76 73, Gary Boyd 76 73, Daniel Denison 75 74, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 78, Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 79, Michael Hoey 73 76
150 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 72 78, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 76 74, Anthony Wall 78 72, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 73 77, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 74 76, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 77 73, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 76 74
151 Barrie Trainor 71 80, Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 79, Jamie Elson 78 73, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 73 78, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 76 75, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 72 79
152 Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 75 77, Stephen Gallacher 72 80, Keith Horne (Rsa) 70 82, Oliver Fisher 77 75
153 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 80 73, Rory McIlroy 74 79, David J Smith 79 74
154 George Murray 72 82, Paul Casey 78 76, Chris Gill 79 75, Oliver Wilson 79 75, Richard McEvoy 74 80, Scott Drummond 77 77, Richard Wallis 73 81, Graeme Storm 78 76
155 Rhys Davies 73 82, Padraig Harrington 76 79
156 David Patrick 77 79, David Horsey 74 82, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 83 73
157 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 83 74, Markus Brier (Aut) 75 82
