The Masters remains one of America’s foremost sports spectacles

If there’s a single recognized symbol for American golf, then it’s The Masters Tournament, one of the world’s premier sporting events and a place where the change in seasons melds with the pursuit of winning one of the game’s most important events.

Eighty-seven invited golfers will tee it up at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. beginning Thursday for a shot at golf immortality. A victory accomplished here among the Georgia pines and Azaleas procures membership into one of the world’s most exclusive golf clubs and a level of prestige that usurps a victory in any of the other major championships of world golf.

The total purse here is $11 million, and usually more because Masters’ officials keep that number, as well as the amount going to the winner, close to the vest.

This year’s tournament proves to be one of the most star-studded fields in recent memory, with Phil Mickelson and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy coming into Augusta off PGA Tour wins and four-time champion Tiger Woods returning as the legend we once knew.

Then there’s the likes of Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day of Australia, determined Englishman Ian Poulter (who won last week in Houston to earn a spot in the field), two-time winner Bubba Watson, and even defending champion Sergio Garcia of Spain.

Watson said one of the best things about this year’s Masters is that so many golfers are in top form, an aspect that will make the tournament even more competitive.

“That’s what we want – we don’t want an asterisk by it and say everybody played bad so you just won,” said Watson, who was nearly flawless in his ball-striking in winning the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play two weeks ago. “We want everybody to play their best.

“It’s going to come down to how we prepare. You’ve got to be mentally prepared. The mental part of it is what drains you around this place. So you got to be focused on every shot and committed to what you see and what you want to do.”

The course is made for bombers like world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who missed the tournament last year after he hurt his back in a mishap at his rental house after one of his practice rounds, and Spain’s Jon Rahm, who can drive the ball as well as anyone on the Tour.

“Last year I was about as confident as I’ve ever been, so it was probably a 10. This year it’s probably a nine and a half,” Johnson said about his confidence heading into this week’s event. “Yeah, it’s good. Starting to swing it a lot better. I’m feeling a lot better on the golf course, for sure.”

The 2015 Masters champ, Spieth has twice tied for second and last year finished tied for 11th. He obviously has a game and a temperament that’s perfect for the challenges of Augusta National and playing golf under the harshest of spotlights.

“I’m so excited for this week,” said Spieth, the reigning British Open champion. “Game feels good, and the golf course is looking to be already pretty firm and fast. We’ll see how it holds with the weather that’s coming in.

“I think this course brings out the feel aspect of my game, which is the better side of me on the golf course. It’s not a technical driving-range golf course – you have a lot of uneven lies and very slopey greens, and so you have to play a lot off of feel and what that lie gives you. It is my favorite tournament in the world.”

Twenty former champions are in the field, with Woods (who won in 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2005) as the only four-time winner playing this year.

Nine of the 10 players who have won one of the other three majors in the past five years will also tee it up, including U.S. Open winners Johnson, Martin Kaymer of Germany and Justin Rose of England. Brooks Koepka, last year’s U.S. Open winner, withdrew the week before the Masters because of a wrist injury.

Other recent major winners in the field are British Open champions McIlroy and Henrik Stenson of Sweden, and PGA Championship winners Day, Thomas, Jason Dufner and Jimmy Walker.

–Steve Habel, Field Level Media