Once again, all eyes were firmly fixed upon Rory McIlroy as he teed it up at Augusta National this week.
Off the back of four wins in the past 12 months, the Northern Irishman was hotly fancied to break his major duck and win the green jacket that his career so richly deserves.
By Friday afternoon, McIlroy had crashed out of the tournament, declining to speak to the assembled media as he headed for an early exit.
READ MORE: Rory McIlroy declines to speak to media after crashing out of The Masters
Since 2014, McIlroy has been just one Masters win away from a historic Grand Slam after picking up four wins in the three other majors between 2011 and 2014.
A win at Augusta would put him into rarefied air in the history of golf, joining a shortlist of men which includes Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan amongst others, to have won all four majors in their career.
As McIlroy has discovered over the past decade, history is a heavy burden to carry.
McIlroy has come close in the majors since that win at Royal Liverpool in 2014, finishing in the top-10 on 17 occasions.
While some of these defeats have been tough to take, none have stung as much as his shortcomings at Augusta.
It started back in 2011 when a final day collapse saw him blow a four-shot lead and hand the win to Charl Schwartzel. Twelve years on, it's still hard to shake the feeling that this was the one that got away.
There have been decent finishes since then, but Rory has never truly looked comfortable around Augusta.
The final round of 2022 is the obvious exception. Starting the day 10 shots off the leader, McIlroy carded a sensational 8-under-par to finish in second place behind Scottie Scheffler.
It was prime Rory. Firing at all flags, bombing drives down the middle, holing out from bunkers, it was a vintage display and one that showed he has what it takes to tear Augusta apart.
But, it's much easier to be so aggressive when you're 10 shots behind. Starting on level par, the Northern Irishman tenses up and plays without freedom.
The shellshocked, disconsolate McIlroy that we saw trudging around Augusta these past two days is a shell of the man that has lit up the PGA Tour these past 12 months. Taking the lead in the PGA's war with LIV, McIlroy has played the best golf of his career, coming close in all four majors last year and winning the FedEx Cup for the third time, he has shown that in full flight, he is the very best that the game has to offer.
But something happens around Augusta. The McIlroy we see at The Masters is so often not the same Rory that pulverises the competition all year round.
Such pressure has to weigh on one's shoulders. The 33-year-old is quite literally just one win away from becoming one of the all-time greats. Whether he likes it or not, his career will be defined by whether he wins The Masters.
Is that fair? Probably not.
But he's not the only great sportsman to have been somewhat tarnished with a feeling of incompleteness.
Take Lionel Messi for example. His performances at World Cups with Argentina were, for 15 years, used as a means to diminish his achievements.
With the exception of the 2014 group stage, Messi failed to perform when it mattered most for his country and played an inconsequential role in a string of meek exits.
To the Argentine faithful, and many others, all the Champions League and La Liga titles meant nothing. He hadn't done it for the National team on the World's stage and therefore couldn't be considered one of the greats like Diego Maradona or Pelé.
Then, Qatar 2022 happened and Messi, quite rightly, is in the pantheon of the greats.
The similarities between the two are plentiful. The pressure of making history. The questions of legacy. Meek exits, disappointments, theses on what changes on the biggest stage.
As Messi has proven so recently, it can be done.
Everything can change and a year from now, McIlroy could well be putting on the green jacket and heralded as one of the greatest ever.
There is still time of course, but what started out as an inevitability is perhaps looking more and more unlikely as the years go by.
Then again, the same was said about Messi.
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