However, having dropped to one under the Northern Irishman bounced back brilliantly by driving the green on the 336-yard 16th for birdie and then picking up another shot at the last.

“I think we had it maybe slightly tougher than the guys in the morning and 67 was a score that I’m very pleased with,” said McIlroy, who was three behind overnight leader Australian Adam Scott.

“You’re just trying to play well and put yourself into position going into Sunday.

“It doesn’t matter what the leader is on on Thursday.

“I felt like I didn’t miss many fairways. I didn’t miss many greens. I felt like it was pretty much under control.

“I missed a couple of shots but you’re not going to hit every shot good out there.”

A case in point was that drive on the 15th, which could have done serious damage to both the spectator and McIlroy’s round.

“It was an eventful last four holes. Everything was going along pretty nicely,” said the 2011 US Open champion.

“I hit it slightly right and got an unfortunate break. I thought I did well to keep my composure after that.

“It went 20 yards right off his head. He could have headed it the other way!

“The most important thing was that he was okay.”

Blue, a 16-year-old from Bristol, was not put off by the experience and plans to cheer on McIlroy again today.

“I don’t imagine he will be too happy with the fact I knocked it out of bounds - I’ll apologise if I see him again,” he said.

“Rory came over and said ’Sorry, are you okay. I don’t think this will help much but here you are’ (giving him a signed glove). He was quite apologetic.

“I still want Rory to do well and I’ll probably go out and watch him again.”