Sunday's final round at the PLAYERS Championship is important for everyone in contention, but perhaps nobody more so than Rory McIlroy.
Five years ago - five years ago - McIlroy, at his best, was by some distance the best player on the planet. Jordan Spieth was getting closer but Justin Thomas was some way behind; Jason Day had not quite found the winning habit and while Dustin Johnson absolutely had it, questions remained as to why and to where it would disappear on specifically important days.
Brooks Koepka was some way from the top of the game, Tiger Woods was falling from it, and all through the summer of 2014 it was Rory McIlroy and his cocksure stride, longer than it ought to be, who looked unbeatable. Heck, even the weather did what he told it to do, a softened-up Hoylake giving him an Open-winning opportunity and darkness holding off for a few seconds more so that he could brazenly give Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson the hurry-up at Valhalla.
It's the performance in between, though, that sticks in the mind. At the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational, McIlroy began the final round three shots behind Sergio Garcia, who had made seven birdies in succession on the way to a Friday 61 and remained the man to catch after a solid Saturday.
McIlroy birdied the first, the second and the third to share the lead, the fifth to take it, and could afford level-par golf to the clubhouse to win by two. The effect he had on Garcia was clear as the Spaniard, a friend who later that year would become a Ryder Cup partner, was mercilessly exposed in an hour of irrepressible attack from the new world number one.
As McIlroy rolled into Kentucky to complete a hat-trick, he was an unstoppable force; nine parts brilliant, one part lucky and utterly convinced of his own superiority; a four-time major champion who would waste no time getting to five. The countdown began immediately to Augusta and his first attempt at a career grand slam, his Ryder Cup demolition of Rickie Fowler another step along a smooth, straight road to becoming the greatest player in the history of European golf.
Five years ago. Well, almost. One thousand, six hundred and eighty-six days, to be more precise, during which McIlroy has done great things - that electric victory in the TOUR Championship is one of eight titles he's collected - but no greater than any other world-class player, not really. It was said last year that the nature of Tiger Woods' return confirms that he's just another excellent golfer. The same has become true of McIlroy.
And so to Sunday, and the final round of the PLAYERS Championship. This is not a major, in case you had been wondering, but it could have a major impact on McIlroy's season. Perhaps even the next few years of his career. It really does feel that important.
He goes into the final round one shot behind another Spaniard, Jon Rahm, a player who has made winning a habit since turning professional only three summers ago. It's a superstar showdown of Ryder Cup colleagues, modern golfing machines for whom second place makes no appeal. And the size of the task here is greater than overcoming that three-shot deficit to Garcia, particularly with Tommy Fleetwood and Jason Day among those who also are in the mix.
Rahm can better afford an off-day. If he does not win the PLAYERS Championship on just his third go, the sky will not fall - although don't expect him to see it that way as events unfold. Having been five adrift at halfway, now suddenly he has a chance to collect yet more silverware and enhance his own credentials when it comes to the four bigger events soon to come.
McIlroy, on the other hand, has again been in the heat of battle throughout, sharing the halfway lead and with daylight back to the field. On Saturday, that daylight disappeared as quickly as it had for Garcia, bogeys at the first two holes bringing dozens of players back into the conversation. Rahm, again mercilessly, took his chance.
Despite an inauspicious start, McIlroy played well for parts of his round, dismantling the par-three eighth with one fade of the ball and powering his way down the par-five 11th with two blasts of the hips. He can take great heart from the way he steadied the ship, even if the chance to establish a healthy lead went begging.
That leaves us with a mouthwatering final round, one in which McIlroy must address the issues of the last few years. When faced with a world-class opponent in a high-class event, he has simply not delivered: 74 beside Patrick Reed at Augusta, 73 beside Justin Thomas at Firestone, 74 beside Tiger Woods at East Lake. These are numbers to make him wince, and it matters little whether he's in the final group or the penultimate one. The questions remain.
Sunday gives him the chance not just to win an important tournament at the 10th attempt, but to end one of the most frustrating sequences of his career. It's one he may feel that he has to take.
Five years ago - well, one thousand, seven hundred and two days, to be precise - McIlroy teed off in the second round of the Open Championship, looking to back up an opening 66. Questions had been asked the night before, specifically what's the issue with Friday? McIlroy had shot a second-round 78 in Scotland a week earlier, and a second-round 78 at the Memorial before that, both times having ended day one in front.
At Hoylake, in round two, he bogeyed the first hole. Here we go again. And then he birdied seven of the following 17, McIlroy at his flowing finest, answering a question just as it had graduated from a whisper to the media centre microphone. It had echoes of his very first major, which came just months after he'd spurned a fabulous opportunity at Augusta, and it triggered the best summer of his career, memories of which are now becoming distant. Backs-against-the-wall stuff: it's on these moments the very best players pride themselves.
One round of golf. It's important.