OAKMONT, Pa. – It will not be a U.S. Open to remember for Rory McIlroy. Still with 18 holes left at Oakmont Country Club, the defending Masters champion is already hoping to forget.

McIlroy stood outside the Oakmont clubhouse early Saturday afternoon, finished with his third round before the leaders had begun theirs. A horde of interested reporters gathered around the disinterested world No. 2, wondering what he thought of his week thus far.

McIlroy’s assessment was sobering.

“Pretty average,” said McIlroy, who shot 74 on Saturday after gutting it out to make the cut late Friday night. At 10-over, he’s found himself well out of contention.

“The name of the game this week is staying patient and try to do a good job of it out there,” he added, “but it's one of those golf courses that you can lose patience on pretty quickly.”

McIlroy’s funk since the Masters has been well-documented and explained by the man himself. He admitted that he’s struggled to find the drive to compete since April, still soaking in the realization of a lifelong dream. Yet in the process, he’s let two chances at majors in the prime of his career slip by. During that time, he’s shown visible frustration on the golf course. McIlroy threw his club and smashed a tee marker during his second round of the U.S. Open. He missed the cut entirely at the RBC Canadian Open last week and had one of the worst showings of his career at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, a course he has dominated over the last decade.

It’s left a weird air hanging over McIlroy, who many thought would be completely freed up after the Masters and would be an even bigger threat at the rest of the year’s major championships. At least after two months, it’s been the opposite.

“You don't really know how it's going to affect you. You don't know how you're going to react to such a -- I wouldn't say a life-altering occasion, but at least something that I've dreamt about for a long time,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, I alluded to the fact that, yeah, I have felt a little flat on the golf course afterwards.”

And flat is no way to be at Oakmont, a course designed to expose any little flaws in your game or lapses in focus. That’s happened to McIlroy frequently through 54 holes. He said, by and large, he’s played okay.

Okay just doesn’t cut it.

“You got to be on every single shot," McIlroy reflected. "You know if you miss a fairway you're going to be scrambling for par. You know if you miss your landing spot even coming from the fairways by a couple yards these greens repel the ball into rough and you're up against collars and it just makes things very, very tricky. So, yeah, you got to be totally on your game.”

The one bright spot McIlroy did highlight was his improvements off the tee. Along with his waning motivation, his driver has been the dominant storyline over the last month. His normal gamer failed a characteristic time (CT) test ahead of the PGA Championship, and McIlroy had struggled to find a replacement until this week. Despite his score, McIlroy has been one of the best statistical drivers at Oakmont.

But the only time McIlroy appeared to have total control of his game came with his back against the wall on Friday. After making two double bogeys in his first three holes, McIlroy played his next 15 holes in 2-under, to make the cut by one shot. He played smart in that stretch, picked his spots for aggression and converted the putts when he needed to. That’s the name of the game in the U.S. Open, which had become one of McIlroy’s most consistent tournaments before this year’s slog. Yet, even that stretch McIlroy chalked up to his mindset.

“It's funny, like it's much easier being on the cut line when you don't really care if you're here for the weekend or not,” McIlroy said, laughing. “I was sort of thinking, do I really want two more days here or not.”

Whether he wanted them or not, he got them. But his third round did little to lighten his mood. McIlroy made two birdies to six bogeys on what he called an “easier” golf course than he’d seen over the first two rounds.

So what’s he hoping to see from his game in the final round?

“Hopefully a round in under four and a half hours and get out of here,” McIlroy said plainly.