There is nothing in sport like the Masters

It’s one of the greatest weeks of the year.

Few sporting events carry such an iconic significance as that of The Masters.

When the sporting punter considers golf, many names will likely spring to mind, depending on your vintage. Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Ballesteros, Woods, McIlroy.

But when you think of golf courses, one usually tops the list - Augusta National.

A sporting canvas like no other, it’s a venue that transports players and viewers alike to what feels like a different world.

The pristine condition of the course itself is matched by the decoration along the edges - azaleas blooming in full sight, the pine straw underneath the towering trees radiating a warm brown colour through screens, and the green of the jacket presented to the eventual winner.

The magnificent design asks so many questions of players that few other golf courses fail to, and there’s nothing like seeing the best in the game squirm and struggle as they pit themselves against one of the great tests in the sport.

One probably has to play the course to appreciate the difficulty level - but even watching on TV you can see the severe run offs from the greens, the accuracy required from the tee and the holes which tempt you to take a chance before making you regret it almost instantly. The greens themselves have run at a frightening 16 on the stimpmeter in years past; it’s like putting on glass.

Many storylines accompany the first major of the year each year, yet aside from all of that, the golf course truly is the winner.

There’s one storyline, though, that reaches above the rest - and that’s whether Rory McIlroy can finally tame Augusta, win the Masters and complete the career Grand Slam that has eluded him for a decade.

The Ulsterman is one of the most interesting characters the game has produced in the modern era.

There’s no question he’s one of the most talented to ever swing a club and everyone, bar perhaps a select five or six, would bite your hand off if offered the career stats he has already.

But his crusade - can we call it that? - to win the Masters has become such a focus that it appears to take its toll every time he arrives at the gates of Magnolia Lane.

McIlroy hasn’t struggled as badly as other players at Augusta, but he has scar tissue stretching back to his 2011 tilt at the title. Who will ever forget the shock on his face as he hooked a tee shot into someone’s back garden on the 10th, as his lead at the turn on the final day turned into a nightmare? A four-shot lead heading into the final day was followed by a final round of 80 strokes, leaving him ten shots off the eventual winner Charl Schwartzel.

One could draw comparisons with Greg Norman’s capitulation in 1996 - isn’t it ironic that both men have been at loggerheads over the past two years with regard to LIV Golf’s emergence.

Given his want to win the Masters, McIlroy has tried just about everything coming into Augusta. Play your way into it with a run of tournaments leading into the event? Check. Take a break beforehand and come in fresh? Check. Plenty of practice rounds? Check. Has any of it worked? Not just yet!

Last week’s performance at the Valero Texas Open was largely unremarkable, but he still finished in third.

The media coverage all week surrounding McIlroy was around his apparent decision to engage the services of Butch Harmon, one of the most recognisable and experienced coaches in the game. A couple of hours in the company of Butch is hardly going to change McIlroy’s world, but such is the interest in his pursuit of the green jacket, it does provide another talking point heading into this week.

There’s a fair chance we all read too much into it all. And maybe Rory does too. He might be the best in the world on his day, but I’m sure he’s privy to some overthinking from time to time. That’s why the best are the best - they can do it physically with their technique but the mental challenge is the tougher one, especially around Augusta where memories reverberate through every hole.

McIlroy has plenty of chances left to try and scale this particular Everest, but the longer the wait goes on the more difficult it will become.

Another element to the week will be the fact that major championships in golf now take on an even more significant meaning since the arrival of LIV Golf on the scene, with players from the breakaway tour set to play a central role this week.

A quick glance at the list of favourites for success this week confirms the split in the game right now - Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are in the top few players with Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka also among the leading contenders.

With the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour strong in their opposition to LIV players playing on their tours as well, it leaves the four majors as the only times during the year when the top players are all in the same field.

Is this a good thing?

Interest levels in the PGA TOUR season to date will tell you it’s not. Can even the most ardent golf fans name a couple of tournaments that had enough star quality to engage a casual golf fan to the extent that they’d be glued to the television?

The answer is a resounding no. Even The Players Championship, still clinging onto that unofficial ‘fifth major’ status, failed to generate any major traction on the sporting landscape.

So, for many reasons, let's hope this week’s tournament delivers drama of some sort.

Golf as a spectator sport desperately needs it.