'No way!': Rory McIlroy suffers putting disaster as he misses birdie chance from less than THREE FEET - before x-rated outburst on second troublesome putt - as Masters champion chases seventh Race to Dubai title

Rory McIlroy suffered an early setback during the third round of the DP World Championship as he made an error on the second hole.

McIlroy is hoping to win a seventh Race to Dubai title along with this weekend's tournament - and he is well placed to do so.

But, after starting his third round with a birdie, the Northern Irishman was in a great position to go back to back on the second with a regulation putt from a few yards. 

However, McIlroy fluffed his effort, which lipped the hole but came out on the other side, with fans heard expressing their shock in the background.

McIlroy put his hands on his head, crouched down and had a look of anguish as Sky Sports commentator Dominik Holyer said: 'Well, well, well.'

'That's just concentration isn't it, that's what that is, he knows it too,' added co-commentator Paul McGinley.

'He seemed to spend a little bit of extra time over it, one extra look. It just shows you the mind is not quite fully focused in, that can happen sometimes. 

'Professional golf is a marathon and keeping your intensity and concentration levels high.'

McIlroy later forced Sky Sports into an apology when he suffered another setback on his way to hopefully clinching the £2.3million jackpot on offer for winning the event.

After missing another attempt for birdie on the 12th hole, he could be heard to yell: 'No way! F***ing greens.' 

Sky Sports' Holyer then interjected and said: 'Apologies (for the language overheard). Frustration for the Race to Dubai leader and World No 2.'

McIlroy is in a great position to secure his seventh - and fourth consecutive - Race to Dubai title with 4,640.06 points to his name.

Nevertheless, a win in the DP World Championship is worth 2,000 points, meaning Marco Penge and Tyrrell Hatton could still overtake him.

McIlroy recovered brilliantly from his two disappointing putts though, with the Northern Irishman rising to top of the leaderboard on -13 after an impressive back nine. He is level with Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.

Hatton is one shot back at -12, while Penge has struggled and is only at -4 ahead of Sunday's final round. 

After posting six under in the first round, McIlroy only took three more shots off his score on Friday following a mixed day.

Speaking after that second round, he hinted conditions had played a part, but added he was happy with the resilience he showed.  

'Yes, I had to battle more today than I did yesterday, the conditions were slightly tougher as well,' he said. 

'So if you look at the scoring yesterday compared to today it is a little bit tougher. I missed a couple more fairways, and when I did, I got some really bad lies, like the worst lies I've seen this week.

'I felt like I showed my scoring skills and battled well and stayed patient, got the ball up and down when I needed to, and overall to shoot 69, I'm pretty pleased given some of the spots I was in.'

He continued: 'The one thing I did very well today was, when I made a bogey, I bounced back straight away with a birdie, which was nice.