At the start of this decade, I was convinced that Rory McIlroy would turn out to be Britain's best ever golfer and, possibly, one of the real all time greats. He's still young enough to achieve the first of those targets and I suppose there's still just a chance he could manage the second. I don't pay as much attention to tournament golf as I used to, but I was not too surprised to see him start his 2019 British Open campaign with a 79 after making a quadruple bogey at the first.

Time was, a challenge like playing at an Irish venue in the Open would have been guaranteed to bring out the best in McIlroy, but there's a frailty to him these days which I think may date back to a decision years ago to take the money when he changed club manufacturers at a time when he was at the peak of his powers - I am right about that decision aren't I and does anyone else have a theory as to what's gone wrong with him?