Lofty expectations, quick Masters exit for McIlroy

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | About the time when Rory McIlroy was preparing to roll his uphill birdie putt on the first hole of his second round at the Masters on Friday morning, a burst of cheers from the nearby eighth green forced him to back away. For anyone who has been around Augusta National during the tournament, there is a soundtrack that sends messages quicker than social media. Though McIlroy likely didn’t know the cheer was for the resurgent and revitalized tournament leader Brooks Koepka, he no doubt got the message that he needed to make his own noise. Instead, McIlroy made a quiet exit a few hours later, fortuitously timed so that he could take advantage of a weather delay that began just after he finished off his second-round 77 to escape without publicly sharing his thoughts on another week that wasn’t. That’s OK.

We’ve seen that movie – at least a version of it – before, and the ending is too familiar. Someday may never come for McIlroy. This was going to be the year when the angels sang and McIlroy was going to float up the 1...