Recent Champions Trend Suggests Rory McIlroy Is Facing Uphill Battle To Complete The Career Grand Slam Before Hitting A Shot

Before Rory McIlroy even began his 17th attempt at winning The Masters, the Northern Irishman's quest was dealt a possible blow.

The four-time Major winner was placed on the late-early side of the draw at Augusta National, with his Thursday tee time of 1:12pm EDT (6:12pm BST) alongside Ludvig Aberg and Akshay Bhatia making him wait for over five hours after the first group began, all the while increasing the nerves and possible anxiety the 35-year-old could be feeling.

Looking ahead, McIlroy is facing a short turnaround to Friday's second round, too, with the talented trio scheduled to head off at 9:58am EDT (2:58pm BST) as part of the earlier crop.

The side of the draw a player lands on at any Major often has some bearing on their fortunes for the week, with varying weather and course conditions regularly consequential in scoring.

But looking at the past seven years of Masters winners, there has been a significant advantage for one half over the other. According to research carried out by Golf Channel, all but one of the past champions since 2018 have teed off in the early-late cluster during rounds one and two, with Dustin Johnson in 2020 the only exception.

That year's edition was postponed until November and played without patrons due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, with a much softer Augusta National leading to a record low score for the tournament.

While McIlroy does not have the luxury of history behind him, all might not be lost if this week's Masters weather forecast is taken into account.

The outlook for Thursday's opening round is near perfect all day - or at least until roughly 9pm, long after the sun has set in Georgia. There is expected to be highs of 76F (24C) and hardly any wind to speak of - so even with fewer trees around in the wake of Hurricane Helene, players may well be presented with prime scoring conditions whenever they go out.

Warm and settled weather on Thursday is scheduled to make way for a much cooler and more blustery Friday, however, with steady winds of roughly 20mph and gusts of up to 40mph only increasing throughout the day.

Should McIlroy and his peers avoid any delays due to possible thunderstorms in the area on Friday morning, they will be faced with slightly less powerful winds capable of blowing golf balls well off the beaten track. Still difficult, but not as tough as those in the afternoon might have it. Anyone with a PM tee time could well find even par is a very good score indeed.

Speaking in his pre-Masters press conference, McIlroy - who enjoys a battle and proving people wrong - discussed the general prospect of overcoming setbacks and hurdles placed in his way over the past few years.

The four-time Major winner will not only have to contest with the weather and an unforgiving golf course this week, but also any potential psychological demons after he came so close to adding a fifth Major at the US Open last summer.

He said: "Yeah, I think over the course of my career I think I've showed quite a lot of resilience from setbacks, and I feel like I've done the same again, especially post-June last year and the golf that I've played since then, and it's something that I'm really proud of.

"Look, you have setbacks and you have disappointments, but as long as you can learn from them and move forward and try to put those learnings into practice I feel like is very, very important. I feel like I've showed that quite a lot over the course of my career.

"When you have a long career like I have had, luckily, you sort of just learn to roll with the punches, the good times, the bad times, knowing that if you do the right work and you practice the right way, that those disappointments will turn into good times again pretty soon."

And who would bet against McIlroy going against the grain of recent history and enjoying a good week at The Masters?