Masters: Rory McIlroy's Grand Slam quest continues at Augusta National

McIlroy overturned Scheffler's six-shot lead to win a record third FedEx Cup title at the 2022 Tour Championship

If not this year, then when? It feels an appropriate question, when considering Rory McIlroy's quest to complete the career Grand Slam.

This week's Masters marks the Northern Ireland star's 15th attempt at winning the only major to elude him. It is the ninth time he has arrived at Augusta knowing victory would see him become just the sixth male player to win a full set of major titles.

But McIlroy admits it has been so long since he won one of the big four titles, it feels as though he is chasing a maiden major triumph, not his fifth. His last came at the US PGA Championship in August 2014.

It seems a lifetime ago, yet the 33-year-old world number two remains one of the game's most dominant figures. And amid the off-course shenanigans enveloping men's professional golf he has become, arguably, the sport's most influential voice.

But for the past couple of weeks, the politics of steering the PGA Tour's fight to retain pre-eminence following the arrival of big money LIV Golf have been set aside.

• Podcast: All about the 87th Masters - preview

Pretty much everything has been tailored to creating the best chance of slipping his arms into the famous Green Jacket next Sunday evening.

Much of March was spent in meetings about the future of the American tour rather than fixing issues with a new driver and he paid for it with a missed cut at the Players Championship.

Since then, though, it has been all about Augusta.

A marginally shorter shaft in the club that gives him most confidence did the trick in an imperious driving display during his recent third-placed finish at the WGC Match Play in Austin.

A new putter, that goes back to the traditional shape that brought those four majors early in his career, also yielded encouraging results on the greens in Texas.

McIlroy also made two recces to Augusta. In one of his practice rounds he is rumoured to have needed only 19 putts on the treacherous Masters greens.

There have been years when he has tried to treat this major as just another tournament, conscious that he was sometimes guilty of building up the event too much in his own mind.

In 2023 he seems to have gone the other way, buoyed by last year's closing 64 and spectacular hole-out from a bunker by the 72nd green that secured the runners-up spot and his highest Masters finish.

McIlroy admits that it was the happiest he has felt departing the Georgia course that has staged this most glamorous of tournaments since 1934. He now feels he can enjoy himself here.

That was not the case when he stumbled to a closing 80 to finish tied 15th after leading by four strokes heading into the final round in 2011. Two months later, at his next opportunity to land a first major, he romped to an eight-shot win at the US Open.

McIlroy has four top-five finishes at Augusta, but has too frequently needed to play catch up after relatively poor starts.

It is a course that sets up perfectly for his ball striking talents. After late March rains and with more wet weather in the forecast, it will play every inch of its 7,545 yards - a record length after the iconic par-five 13th was stretched by 35 yards.

"It will take a little bit of the excitement out," said 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed. "There's going to be a lot more laying up adding that extra length."

But come Sunday afternoon there might be scope for what Augusta co-founder Bobby Jones called a "momentous" decision to go for the green in two to try to snare a tournament-winning eagle.

McIlroy made three on that hole 12 months ago during his stunning final round and it gave him a sniff of pressuring runaway leader Scottie Scheffler before the eventual winner tackled the capricious stretch of 11, 12 and the drive on 13, known as Amen Corner.

Although McIlroy was thrilled with his finish, he was also frustrated that his driver faltered on the closing stretch, yielding no further opportunities to pick up shots, other than that sensational birdie at the last after twice playing from sand.

Scheffler, ultimately, could four-putt the last and still win by three shots. It was a stunning first major for the tall, easy-going Texan who continues to ride high at the top of the world rankings.

He defended his title in Phoenix in February and last month landed the Players title, the biggest tournament outside the majors, by five strokes.

His form is formidable and he is well placed to become only the fourth man after Jack Nicklaus (1965 and 66), Nick Faldo (1989 and 90) and Tiger Woods (2001 and 02) to successfully defend a Masters title.

Jon Rahm began the year in imperious form. His victory in February's Genesis Invitational was his fifth in the space of nine tournaments. Riviera, where that most recent success was achieved, is often a decent barometer for Augusta.

At the Masters he has been top-10 in four of the past five years. Rahm has all the attributes and is driven to emulate the feats of fellow Spaniards Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia, who have all hosted champions dinners at Augusta.

Oh to be a fly on the wall when the past winners tuck into Scheffler's choice of sliders, shrimp, rib eye and red fish on Tuesday evening. Six of those champions compete on the LIV tour that has helped fracture the men's game - conversation could be lively.

How the patrons react to some of this place's most enduring stars - three-time winner Phil Mickelson, twice champion Bubba Watson and 2020 victor Dustin Johnson among them - will be fascinating.

Even more telling will be how well they compete. Are three 54-hole, no cut, guaranteed prize money tournaments enough preparation to be battle hardened?

Open champion Cameron Smith has shown little form in the trio of LIV tournaments. He would otherwise attract much shorter odds to add to his major tally this week.

The Aussie admits there is an onus on the LIV recruits to give a good account of themselves. Are they playing soft touch exhibition golf? Or does team responsibility and jousting for $4m jackpots make them sharper?

We are about to find out, with 18 LIV recruits in the field including Reed who triumphed five years ago while playing alongside McIlroy in the final pairing.

As I say, Riviera can identify attributes needed at Augusta but so too can the Emirates course in the Middle East. In 2016, the last British winner, Danny Willett, won the Dubai Desert Classic and the Masters.

A year later Garcia achieved the same double. UK and Irish fans can look back to January when McIlroy thrillingly edged out Reed in the desert to land his lone title of the year so far. Is it a telling omen?

Who knows? This could be the year, but there are unprecedented plot lines, so many potential contenders and so much scope for sporting drama.

A compelling 87th Masters seems the safest prediction.