OLIVER HOLT: Is Augusta National the Kryptonite to the genius that is Rory McIlroy?

Unfortunately for Rory McIlroy, the Augusta Friday storm forecasts didn’t come soon enough.

If only he could have stayed in the clubhouse amongst the ghosts and legends that gather there every April, if only he could have sat amongst the photos and heritage and under the old oak tree between the front door and the first tee with the members, the cops, the officials and the ex-players gossiping, maybe it would have been different.

But the rain didn’t come before his mid-morning start time and so the rain didn’t save him from a second round he will long forget.

McIlroy had arrived here in Georgia with complete confidence that he would win his first Masters and become the sixth male golfer in history to complete a career Grand Slam. He ended his round, haunted by embarrassment and mediocrity, hoping against hope that the weather wreaked enough havoc on the rest of the field to help him make the cut.

Officials temporarily suspended play and evacuated the visitors from the course at 3:07 p.m., about fifteen minutes after McIlroy finished his round with a seventh bogey of the day on the 18th to finish five over.

No matter how hard it rained, no matter how many streams flowed down the fairways, there wasn’t enough water to wash away the memories of McIlroy’s struggles. Rarely has such a sense of anticlimax and disappointment surrounded him.

Make the cut? What a downturn from the lofty ambitions that had accompanied him here and made him the joint favorite to win.

A few days earlier, Tiger Woods had said it was a matter of when, not if, McIlroy would get a green jacket, but others are beginning to wonder if Woods might be mistaken. With each failure in the prime of his career, McIlroy’s chance of winning the most famous individual award in the sport increases.

His dream of winning at Augusta National is over for another year. That dream of completing the Grand Slam and adding The Masters to The Open, US Open and USPGA crowns he already holds is also over for another year, lost in a trail of mediocrity and hesitation and overwhelming pressure.

All the stars seemed to line up for McIlroy this year, but instead all we got was another dose of anticlimax and the thought that he built up so much scar tissue around this event that he might never win it.

It’s starting to feel like Augusta is kryptonite to his genius. For a year he says the secret to winning here is being super relaxed. For a year, he says the secret is patience. For a year he says he doesn’t really care about the secret. None of it works.

The truth is that no matter what he tells himself, he can’t get the trick to work in his head. Since he blew a commanding lead on the last lap here in 2011, it has haunted and haunted him.

He’s got everything else, a beautiful family, a great life, four Majors, public affection: all that’s missing is The Masters and it’s reached a point where he’s so eager to win it that expectations – his and ours – beat him.

This round will haunt him for some time. Towards the end of it, by the time he missed a one-yard putt on the 16th to save par, and then smashed that drive into the trees on the 18th, there was something of stark fascination.

His play off the tee was generally awe-inspiring, but everything else, especially his putting, stunk the venue. Every year his fans pray for him to take the opportunity here. Every year it surpasses him.

Perhaps the pressure of being a PGA Tour ambassador was an added drag.

Perhaps all the months of acting as tour spokesman in the battle with the Saudi-funded breakaway LIV rebel tour have finally taken their toll. His struggle here may have brought a smile to LIV’s top executive, Greg Norman, who has been angered by attempts to portray LIV as a substandard retirement home for mercenaries.

It wouldn’t have escaped his notice that McIlroy, an aggressive opponent of the breakaway tour and whose power base on the PGA Tour has greatly increased as a result, ended the day 17 shots behind Brooks Koepka, the tournament director and one of LIV’s recruits. It’s going to be a lot harder for McIlroy to mock LIV after what happened on the Masters Friday.

It had also started well. McIlroy hit the opening drive of his second round in the middle of the first fairway.

The patrons around the tee gasped in awe. When his playing partners, Sam Burns and Tom Kim, had played their shots, they all walked down the hill to the valley below and then up the slope on the other side.

Kim reached his ball and stopped first. Next it was Burns. McIlroy continued. And kept walking.

He strode further and further beyond the edge of the hill until he reached his ball. He was in the perfect position. Maybe this was a statement shot. Perhaps this would be the start of one of McIlroy’s Augusta fights.

Maybe he’d play his way back into the fray before it was too late. None of that happened. That first shot was as good as it got. From there everything went downhill.

His approach to the first landed 10 feet short of the pin and then slowly seeped away from the hole down a gentle slope.

McIlroy was transfixed on the fairway. You may have seen that meme of Roy Hodgson’s expression go from eager hope to utter desperation in the blink of an eye; this is what McIlroy looked like now. He slipped his bat through his hands and looked down at the ground.

His birdie putt initially seemed to go straight for the cup, but curled away at the last second. On the second, he hit his tee shot into a bunker, slashed out, hooked his approach to the left, snuffed out a chip, missed a putt, and settled for bogey.

On the third, he crushed another ramp to the edge of the green, then directed his approach through the back of the green. Seeing his ball disappear, he bent down and put his hands on his knees. He also bogeyed third.

McIlroy three-putted the par-three in sixth and hooked his drive into the trees on seventh before bogeying as well.

He entered the water on the 11th and flew his ride over Rae’s Creek but into the greenside bunker on the 12th. He saved par there, but missed an eagle putt on the 15th that might have given him some momentum for the final holes.

Ultimately, he will perhaps be most remembered at this year’s Masters for being one of the first two golfers to do a live TV interview during a round, raising eyebrows from former greats like Sir Nick Faldo.

If McIlroy had been leading the tournament when he spoke to CBS’ Jim Nantz, it might have passed without comment. But if you talk to a TV presenter during your round and miss the cut, the perception is bound to change.