Rory McIlroy, Your 2011 Masters Meltdown in Augusta Is Now Your Life

Dear Mr. McIlroy:

First, sorry about the way things went for you Sunday. When most people have a bad day at the office, usually about a dozen people know. Your bad day was witnessed around the world and will be the stuff of Masters video highlights for years to come. Bet you could feel that green jacket settling on your shoulders as you fell asleep Saturday night.

If you'd held out to have your collapse at the CVS Caremark Charity Open it'd be tantamount to doing it in witness protection. But two things are working against you. One, it was at The Masters. Two, we in the sporting media are never going to let you forget it.

You could win the other three Grand Slam events this year and we'd still mention it. You could win at Augusta for the next five years and we'd still mention it. I know you didn't intend to, but your fall from grace Sunday just fed the media beast. Let me try to explain.

Bill Buckner played 20 seasons of Major League Baseball. He racked up more than 2,700 hits and won a batting crown. But for most he'll be the Boston Red Sox infielder who let a ground ball in a World Series game scoot between his legs. It did not cost his team the series against the New York Mets, but read enough press accounts and you'd think he gunned down his team's starting rotation.

Dan Marino, we like to say, may be the greatest quarterback never to win a Super Bowl. He set all kinds of passing records as a Miami Dolphin. He's in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But he only played in one Super Bowl and lost it, so that's what gets mentioned most of the time.

We could do this all day, but the point is the media beast loves it when someone has a massive smudge on their sporting resume. We run toward it like ants chase down an errant Oreo at a picnic. For some reason we just don't ever want high achievers to ever forget that tiny bit of tarnish on their shiny career.

Fair. Oh hell no! But we will also be the first to remind you that life is not fair. As many a scribe as said: "We never lost a game in the press box."

So get used to hearing the following associated with you:

- Choker
- Meltdown
- Underachiever
- Can't win the big one
- Can't handle the pressure

Like I said, life ain't fair.

By the way, if you set scoring records in winning this year's U.S. Open, we will then start talking about whether you can ever do it again. Sorry. We don't make the rules....Wait! We do.

Did I tell you life isn't fair?