Major breakthrough looks even further away for McIlroy after latest blow

The next major, the Masters in Augusta, is another seven months down the road.  The journey there, and the extra step or two it takes to get over the line when the next big opportunity arises, seems all the longer after the end game here.

TOUGH TO TAKE: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts alongside caddy Harry Diamond. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Even now, after all these years, the goldfish bowl that is Rory McIlroy’s day job makes for an extraordinary sight when you press your nose up to the glass. It’s an abnormal normality that, stripped of its context and his star power, strikes as utterly ridiculous.

Incomprehensible.