It's a mantra that regularly gets trotted out at this time of the golf season that 'this will be a Masters like no other’.
Eight major-less months which precede the tournament is arguably the most pressing reason to fill the air with anticipation in the second week of April but this year there’s a whole lot more which could colour and define this as being one of the most eventful Masters in history.
The presence of six former champions in the field of 88 players who have broken away to join the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Tour has been a potential flashpoint but it has not so far, to the relief of the Augusta National Members, ignited in any apparent way.
But, that said, it’s been interesting to observe the LIV players here, some apparently feeling like gatecrashers at a party, craving acceptance and wondering if they should mingle or stay among themselves.
Open Champion Cameron Smith, who was a candidate for 2022 Player of the Season until he jumped to the LIV Series last August, expressed his relief in his Tuesday press conference at the warmth he received from PGA Tour players when he walked out on the practice ground for the first time this week.
"Went out on the range and did my stuff and it was just a really nice experience," he said.
"I didn’t want to expect too much but at the same time, I kind of wanted that, not only for myself but for the game of golf," he added.
On the eve of the championship, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley, in his annual address was questioned as to why the LIV Commissioner Greg Norman was not invited to Augusta this year.
He sounded conciliatory and did not rule out a further invitation but seemed to infer that he felt the presence of Norman would be a distraction before adding:
"The tone has been really good here this week. I’ve noticed that the players are interacting. At the Champions Dinner I would not have known that anything was going on in the world of professional golf other than the norm."
Even an arch LIV critic like Rory McIlroy has stepped back from indulging in any rhetoric that might add fuel to the fire.
"This week and this tournament is way bigger than any of that. It’s just great, that all of the best players in the world are together again for the first time in what seems like quite a while," he reflected.
McIlroy has, this season, been dialling down on his ‘LIV spokesman’ role and trying to concentrate on his game with probably more than an eye on the next four days which have come to be a mark of definition in his season.
The Masters is the only major championship he has yet to win and it separates him from a sense of achieving golf immortality because the ‘Career Grand Slam’ has been achieved by only five other players in the game – Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
This week he has been ‘dialling in’ an acceptance of the pressure that comes with chasing a life goal. He’s even allowed himself to admit openly that he dreams of a green jacket ceremony and that envisaging success around Augusta has become part of his psychological preparation for the week.
"I’ve let myself dream. I’ve let myself think about it before I go to sleep at night. I think the more you play it over in your mind, the more ready you’ll be for it," he said in an RTÉ interview on Tuesday.
To achieve a defining goal in his career might need a better start than he has recorded over his last four Masters appearances. He’s a combined 9 over par for his first rounds here since 2019 while he’s only broken 70 twice for his opening 18 holes since his debut around Augusta National in 2009.
On the only two occasions on which he has shot in the 60’s in the first round in 2011 and 2018, he has ended up in the final match on the course on Sunday but sadly on each occasion his challenge ran out of steam well before making it to the 18th tee.
But McIlroy knows that his game is a near perfect fit for Augusta. He’s finished in the top ten in seven of his last nine appearances and in the top five on four of those occasions including a dramatic runner-up performance 12 months ago following a closing round of 64.
It's a Sunday vibe that he wants to carry into this week after many occasions when he has left the property on Washington Road with a sense of disappointment. Last year he departed down Magnolia Lane with a smile and a spring in his step.
"I won a little battle within myself last year, that final day," he said this week.
Victory here incidentally would not just achieve the ‘Career Slam’ but also would also take him level with Severiano Ballesteros with five major golf championship wins and one shy of Nick Faldo’s European modern day record of six.
The form of the world number two-ranked player has been good enough this season with a victory in Dubai and a recent semi-final run in the World Matchplay Championship which came after two apparently successful tweaks to key clubs in his bag.
An adjusted driver, with half an inch cut off the shaft, and a return to a familiar 'Anser' shaped putter head worked well in the Matchplay but also during four pre-Masters week practice rounds at Augusta National.
But there are also compelling cases to be made this week for at least two other players based on 2023 form.
World number one Scottie Scheffler, after recent wins in Phoenix and at the Players Championship, looks primed to defend the title he won with some ease last year, while third-ranked Jon Rahm looked imperious with three early season wins by the end of February.
That trio have separated themselves from the rest of the world by some distance in the world rankings.
Apart from McIlroy, Ireland’s challenge will feature Shane Lowry who tied for third last year; Seamus Power who tied for 27th on his Masters debut and Belfast optometrist Matthew McLean who qualified to play in the 87th Masters as a result of winning the US Mid-Amateur Championship last September at Erin Hills in Wisconsin.
Lowry briefly challenged up to a fourth hole triple bogey six on the final day in 2022 but he rallied for his best ever finish around Augusta and he’ll have new caddy Darren Reynolds from Bray on his bag for the first time in a major.
McLean is the first of the Irish to tee off at 1:12pm (Irish time). Lowry tees off at 2.36pm; Power at 2.48pm, and McIlroy at 6.48pm.
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