Jason Day was too shattered to explain his implosion after spiralling out of British Open contention.
But the writing was on the wall even before he hit his very first tee shot at Royal Birkdale.
Day may have been spared missed cuts at successive major championships for the first time, but Australian fans shouldn't expect the battling former world No.1 to be a factor over the weekend.
The 29-year-old arrived unusually late, had only two practice rounds and conceded he had been struggling for motivation since learning in March that his mother was facing the fight of her life.
Dening Day survived her cancer scare but her son admitted he had lost the necessary discipline to stay on top of his game.
His body language both on arrival and before, during and after his first two rounds have exuded a player down on confidence and belief.
"This has always been one of those weeks that has always been a little bit tough for me with my major performances. My best finish obviously at St Andrews in 2015, finishing tied for fourth there," Day said.
Hardly the words of a player ready to compete for golf's greatest prize.
Even after picking up two birdies on Friday to close to within four shots of the clubhouse lead with three holes remaining, the 2015 US PGA champion and four-time major runner-up self-destructed.
Three straight sixes to complete his round left Day 11 shots adrift of Jordan Spieth, seemingly a shot duck heading into so-called Moving Day at the links major.
But, believing critics and fans can be fickle, Day is confident he can again scale the heights of 2015 and 2016 when he rose to No.1 in the world.
"I have to understand sometimes I've got to give myself a little bit of leeway, know that golf is a marathon and hopefully at the end of my career I'm, in some way, way at the top, somewhere I've never even thought I would be," he said.
"I've just got to be patient and just let things happen. Because I honestly believe good and big things are coming for me. I've got to just trust it and understand, keep working hard.
"In today's world, in sports in general, it's very easy to kind of shoot yourself in the foot a little bit, whereas you want things to happen really quickly.
"It's kind of like the flavour of the week - whoever wins that week, everyone wants to talk about.
"But you go to the tournament next week and no one wants to talk about who won last week, and they only want to talk about the person that is winning this week."
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