Joe Carroll: There’ll be no shortage of rivalries at the Augusta Masters

There are several who Inside Track will be keeping an eye out for at Augusta this weekend. This edition of the Masters, which tees off on Thursday and goes on till Sunday, promises to be something special, and not only for the standard it’s likely to produce.

Play, of course, will be exceptional, as it always is on this Georgia course, whose description as “quirky, not far removed from what you’d see in pub golf”, had IT accused of committing a sporting sacrilege. The opinion was formed after a contestant was seen taking a putt with his back to the hole, somewhere around Amen Corner.

But this time rivalry among the world’s best is likely to be more intense than it’s ever been at golf’s first major of the year. Yes, there’ll be handshakes, but maybe not as warm as they were prior to the rebel LIV Tour teeing off for the first time.

Don’t wreck your brain trying to work out the acronym LIV. It’s not one; they are the Roman numerals for 54, the score that would be returned if every hole on a par-72 was birdied, and, also, the number of holes LIV has in its tournaments.

LIV is the cash-rich breakaway organisation set up two years ago in opposition to the PGA. The money it offered members of the PGA to join was astronomical, even by golf’s standards, and the same applied for the prizemoney on offer for its first tournaments. Greg Norman is its CEO.

Several big names signed up, Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnston among them. They didn’t make themselves popular with those who remained loyal to the PGA.

Rory McIlroy was the most scathing in his public condemnation; but since they’ve found their feet in their new surroundings, the other side has had lots to say in return.

The Masters is another major in which the two sides come face to face. The first was last year’s British Open. The winner, Cameron Smith, collected the Claret Jug and then skipped over to the other crowd.

17 LIV members are in the field, and, go on, picture what it would be like if, come Sunday evening, McIlroy and Mickelson, say, are on the last tee together, nothing between them on the scoreboard.

It wouldn’t be a return to Brookline on the final day of the 1999 Ryder Cup when a crazed American crowd, encouraged by some of the home team, threw sportsmanship out the window to disgrace themselves. But it could still be tasty.

McIlroy won’t lack for motivation. Aside from the rivalry that has manifested itself this past couple of years, he’ll want to win this major above all the others he’ll contest this year.

He was in his early 20s when he imploded on the final round in 2011 with the title in his grasp, and has since failed to break his duck. Last year he finished runner-up to Scottie Scheffler after producing the most exquisite bunker shot on the last hole.

McIlroy’s countryman, Shane Lowry, went close last year as well taking third, and at 50/1 might be worth an each-way punt.

And speaking of odds, Danny Willett was 66/1 when he outmuscled Jordan Spieth on the final round in 2016.

Inside Track had the Englishman in an each-way bet with a horse of Jim Dreaper’s running in the Aintree Grand National which was decided on the same weekend and collected a tidy sum in the place-money when the Irish runner finished 5th. Willett’s 150/1 this time.

So that’s it for the weekend, McIlroy, Lowry and Willett in focus, along with, of course, the glares and stares that might feature when the two sides collide, as they almost certainly will at some stage.