It’s the fifth consecutive year that McIlroy failed to break par on Augusta Thursday.

Yet the chaotic nature of that round – three bogeys, a double-bogey, five birdies – was only part of the story given his bizarre decision to grant ESPN an on-course interview while walking up the ninth fairway.

This is something that selected other players have committed to during recent PGA Tour events, but there was broad astonishment that the four-time major winner would do so during his opening round at Augusta.

World number nineteen, Tom Kim, also co-operated with ESPN during his round and was going well at four under until subsequently blowing up with an ugly seven on the par five fifteenth.

The interviews were conducted by Trevor Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion. On the ninth, he engaged with McIlroy about his yardage to the green, a brief over-and-back between them, McIlroy fully engaging in conversation. Anchor, Jim Nantz, then thanked him for doing so, pointing out that those who’ve done it during previous PGA events have, generally, either won or finished well up that week’s leaderboard.

“I think that’s why I wanted to do it” Rory replies with a smile.

It seemed a moment out of kilter with circumstance, McIlroy already over par at the time while every scoreboard on the course could tell him that he was fast losing ground.

McIlroy’s recent Masters bids have been dogged by slow starts, albeit last year’s closing 64 catapulted him into second place behind champion, Scottie Scheffler.

He hasn’t won a major since the 2014 PGA Championships at Valhalla, yet his form has been outstanding through the last year, himself, Scheffler and Rahm essentially separating themselves from the rest of the game through remarkable levels of consistency.

Victory in the Tour Championship last August brought his third FedEx Cup win and the extraordinary pot $18 million.

But this felt like another galling no-show on a perfect, sun-kindled day in Georgia, the conditions all but perfect for the best players in the world to go flag-hunting.

A birdie on the par five second lifted early hopes, but McIlroy instantly handed the shot back on three, pulling his drive left, then coming up short with a tentative pitch. The double arrived on seven, his tee-shot hooked into trees down the left and his attempted draw then squirming low behind a greenside bunker.

He duly flopped his third into the sand, eventually getting down in two putts.

Just inches separated him from eagle on the par five eighth, McIlroy on the green in two and a smart birdie on ten got him back to level par. But he instantly handed that shot back on eleven, clipping the branch of a tree with his second, having leaked his drive right.

Three pars followed before a brilliant third shot to fifteen set McIlroy up for a curled eight-foot birdie putt and another birdie immediately followed on sixteen, a sublime pitch-wedge just leaving him eight feet from the pin.

A round that could have gotten away from him had, to some extent, been salvaged here. But then a hooked drive on seventeen put him on the back foot again and, finding a fairway bunker on eighteen, he had to work hard to scramble a closing par., leaving him seven off the lead.

With an ominously grim weather forecast for the weekend, this felt like the day to go low.

And the calibre of names high on the leaderboard – Hovland, Rahm, Koepka, Young, Day, Lowry, Schauffele, Scott, Scheffler, Burns, Rose, Morikawa and Spieth – suggested that McIlroy had missed the bus.

Masters history suggests that a player outside the top ten on Thursday night is, essentially, a player already out of contention. McIlroy’s challenge now is to prove that perception wrong.

McIlroy was philosophical afterwards when speaking about his round.

“Yeah, just a little untidy in places” he said. “I missed a couple of tee shots left on 7 and 17 that I sort of got penalized for, like an untidy bogey on 3, a three-putt on 11. So just stuff like that that's -- you know, it's not disastrous, but I just need to sort of tidy it all up. I didn't feel like I was too far away today. I made five birdies but just a couple of too many mistakes on the card.

“Obviously you see Sam (Burns) playing beside me goes 4-under for the first four. You've got three guys at 7-under on the leaderboard.

“So, yeah, it's hard to stay patient when you just want to try to get yourself in there. I've got a quick turnaround overnight and looking forward to getting back on the course pretty quickly and obviously trying to get myself back in the thick of things.”

Asked if the looming weather might help, he replied candidly “I think when you're chasing, it's probably the harder the better because it plays easier for everyone. The more difficult the course is, I think that's probably favourable conditions for chasing a little bit or trying to catch up. Look, I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Hopefully we don't get affected by it too much, and we can get out there and play 18 holes uninterrupted. I can shoot something in the mid-60s and get myself back in it.”

And that interview on nine?

“Yeah, so the club reached out to us last week and just inquired if I would be interested in doing it. I did it a couple weeks ago at the Match Play. It definitely feels a little less intrusive with the ear piece rather than someone right up next to you with the microphone like they've been doing it in Europe for a couple of years. I thought it would be a cool thing to do. I did it in Austin and didn't feel like it took me out of my rhythm in any way or made me think about things too much. So it's nice to provide the audience at home a little bit more insight into what's going on out here.”

Had he been surprised Augusta National encouraged it?

“No. I mean, I think with the previous chairman, he definitely brought things forward. Then I think since Chairman Ridley has come along, he's really tried to push the envelope as well. So I think Augusta have a great balance of blending that history and that tradition but also making sure we're keeping up with the times, I guess.”

Might he have changed his mind bur for the birdie on eight?

“No, it's fine. I'm temperamental. I'm not that temperamental.”

Asked to characterize what's ahead of him now, McIlroy reflected “I'm probably two or three shots behind how I'd like to be, considering how I played today. I think, if I had gotten the most out of my round, I would have shot 68 or 69. So a few shots back, but nothing that's not insurmountable. I think I can go out there and give myself plenty of chances and play a great round of golf tomorrow and get myself back on that big white scoreboard.”