For fourteen holes, Rory McIlroy was in cruise control and the dream of a Grand Slam was alive. That was until double bogeys on 15 and 17 saw him finish in an ambulance and leave his hopes of golfing immortality on life support yet again after the first round of the Masters.
Only twice has McIlroy shot in the 60s on Thursday at Augusta National and after picking up four birdies on the third, eighth, ninth and thirteenth he looked destined to get off to the good start that has eluded him for most of his green jacket quest.
Nobody could have envisaged what would transpire over the next hour, especially after McIlroy drilled a long iron right over the treacherous front pin on the par-5 15th.
A level-par 72 is not a disaster by any means but at seven shots behind Justin Rose and four behind Scottie Scheffler, he is playing catch up once again.
Amazingly he finished with the highest score of his three ball with Ludvig Åberg (-4) and Akshay Bhatia (-2) and this was after Bhatia had found the water on 15 before him.
The chip from the back of 15 is not for the faint hearted, Patrick Cantlay had three tries at it before eventually racking up a snowman. McIlroy, chipping from a similar position, missed his landing spot by a couple of yards and his ball trundled helplessly into the creek beyond the flag.
Wary of retreating the error, he played his penalty shot from the other side of the water, but his recovery pitch was not much better, missing the green to the right, leaving a tricky two putt for a double bogey which he got.
In the grand scheme of things, it was a blow, an understandable blow, it happens, but what happened on 17 was inexcusable and is the exact kind of problem that explains why he has been stuck on four majors for eleven years and none at Augusta.
After all, the infamous miss on 16 at Pinehurst was completely random.
Another clumsy pitch from the back of 17 rolled towards the front of the green from where he added insult to injury with a three-putt for a second double bogey in three holes.
Alarm bells were ringing, not even the words of Bob Rotella could have prepared McIlroy for this.
There was so much to love about this McIlroy round. He started with intent, hitting the longest drive of the day on the 1st, before repeating the feat on the par-5 8th which this time led to a birdie.
His decision to change to a softer golf ball early in the season to force him to play sawn off wedges was working a treat on Thursday but after dancing a wedge around the flag on 14, once sensed his momentum stall when his six foot birdie putt shaved the hole.
You can’t win a major championship on a Thursday but after 14 holes, McIlroy was in position A in terms of giving himself the foundation to launch a charge from.
You can lose it on a Thursday and fear will be rife that in one costly hour he might have lost his best chance in years to win a green jacket.
Until he wins another major or a maiden Masters, McIlroy will always be faced with more mental battles than most, but his biggest psychological challenge could be to lift himself from despair between now and his Friday morning tee time.
The Holywood man skipped post round media duties. Sometimes you’re better off saying nothing.
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