Rory McIlroy's Open hopes blown away at windy Troon by a disastrous 78

Making the cut, as McIlroy admitted afterwards, is the height of his ambitions now.

Rory McIlroy drove out of bounds on the 11th as he made a poor start to the 152nd Open (Jane Barlow/PA)

“All week Rory, all week,” shouted one punter as the four-time major winner smacked his opening tee shot straight down the fairway. It was nine minutes after ten on a wet and windy first morning at the 152nd Open Championship. McIlroy’s challenge was a busted flush by lunchtime.

Four holes. That’s all it took for his bid to win a first major title in ten years to drift off into the misty gloom decorating this course along the Firth of Clyde. He had arrived at the iconic par-three Postage Stamp 8th hole at even par. By the time he left the 11th green he was sitting at five-over.

Carnage.

McIlroy’s tee shot at the 8th had found the green but it trickled into one of the sand traps to the right - not the feared Coffin Bunker, there was still life in him then - and it took two attempts to get it out and keep it out. A 14-foot putt back slipped by the whitewash and that was two shots gone in 120 short yards.

Shane Lowry had been among the players to speak about this famous and dangerous hole earlier in the week. They had sounded like kids contemplating a haunted house. The Offaly man warned that someone would have their day ruined at it and expressed the hope that it just wouldn’t be him.

The 8th was challenging but there were rewards to be unearthed there too. There had been a string of early birdies carded at it with Matt Wallace, Justin Thomas, Nicolai Højgaard, Adam Scott, Matteo Manassero, Tom McKibben and Calum Scott all having some early joy.

Jon Rahm would actually describe it as the easiest hole on the front nine, although it was later tracking as the fifth hardest hole on the course. Then again, players’ opinions on holes and conditions were as varied as the wind through the day and McIlroy was out in some of the tougher early conditions.

Falling foul of the shortest hole on the entire Open roster was no disgrace. Worse was the fact that he followed it up with a bogey at ten after a wayward drive, and then a double bogey at the famous Railway hole having found those eponymous tracks to the right. That was another double bogey.

Five shots gone. Just like that.

If the scores were concerning then the body language was just as revealing. McIlroy was all shrugs, head shakes and eyes to the grey heavens at this point, and this on a links course and in conditions that everyone had accepted would require grit and perseverance and an ability to roll with the punches.

By the end, with two more bogeys carded at 16 and 18, he had signed for his worst Open start since the 79 that had cost him his chance of home glory at Royal Portrush five years ago, his second-round 65 that week still having left him just the wrong side of the cut in Co. Antrim.

He spoke briefly but in detail after this derailment. What stood out was his “surprise” at the wind direction, how the back nine had played far tougher than he had imagined, and how those unexpected realities had sent his week’s homework scattering over the windswept sand dunes.

“You play your practice rounds, you have a strategy that you think is going to help you get around the golf course, but then when you get a wind you haven't played in, it starts to present different options.

“You start to think about maybe hitting a few clubs that you haven't hit in practice,” he explained. “Yeah, just one of those days where I just didn't adapt well enough to the conditions.” It was a curious take for such an experienced and accomplished player. McIlroy had admitted to a certain struggle in re-adapting to links conditions earlier in the week but he is no novice at this form of the game. Should he really have been thrown off kilter like this?

The forecast was predictably unpredictable. Players expect the unexpected. Maybe there was another explanation. Maybe he just hadn’t had the time to flush his US Open disappointment from the system and then refill the tank for another major.

It’s not a theory he accepted, preferring instead to highlight the difficulty of the rough and the many bunkers protecting these links. Whatever the causes, the consequences are clear. Another shot at that elusive fifth major is now nine more months down the line.

Maybe he’ll strike gold at the Olympics.