It was the tee shot heard around the world. Stood on the first tee at Augusta National, the open and inviting fairway sprawling in front of him, Rory McIlroy assessed a situation he has seen so many times before. Fifty-one times before at a major the Northern Irishman has made the weekend, so often in contention as the day begins; so often slipping away at some point over the final 36 holes. In this last decade, each despair has brought fresh doubts; every near miss stretching the scarring further across the greatest golfing talent of his generation.
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