Rory McIlroy had a birthday to forget on Friday

It wasn't pretty.

After The Masters concluded, and as Patrick Reed began his year-long parading of the green jacket, Rory McIlroy shut himself off. The Northern Irishman, exhausted from a draining four days around Augusta, packed up his stuff and returned to Ireland, where he engaged in some much-needed R&R. He binge-watched the TV show Billions, read a couple of books (The Chimp Paradox: The Acclaimed Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness, and Essentialism, the Disciplined Pursuit of Less, in case you were interested) and generally just enjoyed some downtime. Three weeks on from the Masters, he returned to action at the Wells Fargo Championship in the Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina. Eight years ago, McIlroy announced himself to American golf fans in spectacular fashion when he shot a stunning final round 62 to capture his first PGA Tour success. McIlroy won the event for the second time in 2015 by a cool seven strokes. He tends to play pretty well here and, after a promising opening round 68 this week, many tipped the four-time major winner to prevail for a third time at this venue. https://twitter.com/RoryLegion_GC/status/992368107044982784 However, on Friday, he shot himself out of contention with a messy 76, which included five dropped shots in his final eight holes. Friday also happened to be McIlroy's 29th birthday and he was hoping for a better gift than his worst-ever round at a tournament that has treated him well over the years. Birthday blues for McIlroy, then, but he did make the cut, so Saturday will offer an immediate shot at redemption. https://twitter.com/WellsFargoGolf/status/992547094257897472