Second ball exploding from the turf adds to McIlroy's wild ride at British Open

Rory McIlroy picked up the ball from the thick rough, held it out in front of him and burst out laughing.

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Rory McIlroy picked up the ball from the thick rough, held it out in front of him and burst out laughing.

It was one of the most baffling things to have happened to him on a golf course.

Maybe one of the most frustrating, too.

McIlroy was on a third-round charge at the British Open on Saturday, making birdies and generating roars from the deep galleries that could be heard from a half-mile away in this corner of his native Northern Ireland.

What derailed him was almost a trick of the mind.