Storm clouds gather over golf but a Masters thriller can help clear the air | Ewan Murray

The sport is beset by never-ending political machinations so a rare meeting of world's best is a chance to take stock

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.