Rory McIlroy isn't letting the ending to his impressive French Open round dampen his spirits.

He hit the water on the 18th after taking the outright lead by the end of his first 17 holes in Round 2.

That means he slips down to joint-leader on 5-under, heading into the weekend.

"I played well. I'm a little disappointed with how I finished at the last but I can't let that taint what was a really good day," he said.

"I played very. I didn't really put a foot wrong until the 18th, so I'm really happy with how I played there and I'm still continuing to work hard and think hard on my goal swing. It seems to be working so far."