McIlroy, Donald and Poulter miss the cut at the BMW PGA Championship

VIRGINIA WATER, England – World No. 2 Rory McIlroy is certain to miss the cut at the BMW PGA Championship after shooting a 3 over par 75 on Friday for a 5 over total.

McIlroy was one of four 2012 Ryder Cup winners to bow out after two rounds — joining two-time defending champion Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell. A fifth player, Paul Lawrie, was also at real risk of missing out.

With the U.S. Open less than a month away, McIlroy could only manage to hit four fairways on his second round, a roller-coaster front nine of four birdies but also five bogeys. He steadied to par the next seven holes but then doubled-bogeyed ahead of a two-putt birdie at the last.

“It was just a tough day and I didn’t get off to the best start to be 2 over through 3,” McIlroy said. “I did manage a couple of birdies to get back to level but it was a grind.

“I was missing a lot of greens and couldn’t really give myself many chances to make any shots back and obviously try to get into the weekend.”

Donald (72) was 6 over overall after two rounds in the cold and rain at Wentworth.

“Even for England this weather is pretty unseasonal and it made the course play very tough because the last couple of years it’s been very warm and the ball has travelled a lot,” Donald said. “I was nine over through 21 holes playing pretty terrible golf, really.”

Poulter (76) and 8 over is planning to make the most of his free weekend, going to the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday and then to the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” Poulter said. “Don’t worry about me as I will be posting some good scores again, soon.”

McDowell was 5 over after a 75 and Lawrie was 3 over with 72. The cut is expected at 2 over.

Italy’s Francesco Molinari, another member of the 2012 European winning team, heads the event by one shot after carding a second round 68 for a 6 under par total of 138.