There will be something apposite about the gathering of storm clouds above Augusta National on Thursday. You wait 264 days for a major championship round and the weather gods have other ideas. If forecasts are to be believed, competitors will be sheltering until lunchtime rather than pursuing a Green Jacket. The Open Championship last July ended in a squall; the 88th Masters will get under way in one.
Augusta needs a successful Masters to demonstrate the outstanding beauty of this golf course to the world. They take that showcasing very seriously here. The sport itself requires a memorable tournament to allow disaffected onlookers to fall back in love. Golf boomed during the pandemic and participation numbers remain high; the trouble is that infighting, exorbitant payments and everything else associated with a civil war has turned off everyone beyond dedicated followers. Momentum has been lost. Vulgarity attached to LIV’s rampage on to the scene has proved hugely unattractive. It is very easy to adore golf but find little appeal in the way it operates at the top level.
The sight of Greg Norman glad-handing around Augusta’s clubhouse on Wednesday will be seen as the latest indication of a thawing of relations between LIV and the traditional ecosystem it has sent into a tailspin. He was previously persona non grata at a venue that caused him considerable heartache as a player. Now, there is quiet acceptance LIV is not going anywhere soon. In fact, it is likely to expand into fresh geographical territory from 2025.
For now and the foreseeable future, majors have a unique selling point. This is the only chance to see Rory McIlroy take on Jon Rahm. There are just four opportunities each year to assess Brooks Koepka when in opposition to Scottie Scheffler. Fred Ridley, Augusta’s chairman, is speaking honestly when he insists golf needs to come together but one positive spin-off is for events such as the Masters. This provides genuine opportunity to watch all the best players in the world, in the one place. That possibility no longer exists at the Players Championship or Scottish Open. A Masters containing spine-tingling drama would supply the perfect antidote to the never-ending machinations of a political kind off the course. Golf can regain the plot under towering Georgia pines.
Rahm’s toppling of Koepka last year at Augusta was entertaining. Yet the Spaniard’s ultimate margin of victory was four strokes. Scheffler four-putted the 72nd green in 2022 and still won by three. Hideki Matsuyama had leeway over his closing stretch three years ago and Dustin Johnson led the field a merry dance in the Masters of 2020. We are, therefore, overdue a classic Augusta duel. The last time that properly applied was in 2017, when Sergio García edged out Justin Rose in a playoff.
A McIlroy win, the reaching of his holy grail, would provide the fairytale outcome. It seems incredible to think this will be the Northern Irishman’s 10th attempt at completing a career grand slam; yet at the same time, so much has happened to him personally and professionally since 2014 and his last major success. McIlroy is quite rightly wary of the assertion – offered by Tiger Woods this week – that he is somehow destined to be a Masters champion. For McIlroy, Augusta is all in the mind. He has the athletic and technical ability to win this tournament. McIlroy engages in an annual April battle to quash his natural instincts, of being aggressive and bold, in the knowledge Augusta takes revenge on the impertinent.
The world No 2 has not competed for trophies recently enough for us to know how he will react if atop the leaderboard here. He also, curiously, has not been within touching distance of a Green Jacket anything like regularly since his implosion at Augusta in 2011. Yet in what is never a tribal environment, the pull of the galleries is for a McIlroy win. Golf fans feel he has served his time and is worthy of becoming just the sixth man to complete a majors clean sweep. McIlroy’s reaction to doing that, with inevitable outpouring of emotion, would be a sporting sight for the ages.
Rahm must prove his switch to LIV has not doused his competitive spirit. Scheffler, golf’s reluctant hero, is so consistent it would be a shock were he not high on the leaderboard come Sunday evening. Outsiders worthy of strong respect include Shane Lowry and Joaquín Niemann. Ludvig Åberg, making his major debut, is on a fast track to stardom. Left-handers have illustrious history here, hence beware the Open champion Brian Harman. Woods may speak with conviction about adding a sixth Green Jacket to his wardrobe but he is chronically under-raced.
Players battering ball after ball on the range on the afternoon before a major are typically edging towards panic mode. With that in mind, the appearance of Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau on the practice facilities was notable.
“I believe everyone agrees there’s excitement in the air this week,” said Ridley. “The best players in the world are together once again. The competition will be fierce. Families are reunited, and friendships will be renewed.
“The best golf has to offer is on centre stage. That is good for everyone, certainly players, but also our partners, volunteers, the Augusta community, and its many local charities, and especially our patrons and fans around the world.” Now, time to deliver.