It Would Be 'Very Surprising' To See LIV Players Contend At Masters - Andrew Coltart

There are a total of 18 LIV Golf players in the Masters field this week and there have been reports that each of the players would surround the 18th green if a fellow LIV player were to don the Green Jacket this year.

A number of high profile LIV Golf players will fancy their chances around Augusta National this week, including 2020 winner Dustin Johnson, four-time Major champion Brooks Koepka and the 150th Open winner Cameron Smith among others.

However, Sky Sports' Andrew Coltart has voiced his concern of the match fitness of the LIV players, with their 54-hole no-cut format different to the four-day, halfway-cut format on show at The Masters this week.

Coltart thinks "it's not possible" for Cam Smith to win, for example, and says it would be "very surprising to see him or anybody" in contention come Sunday.

"He is an incredible talent, a beautiful golfer, a tremendous player, handles pressure well, likes it round there but my golfing brain says to me that it's not possible given the lack of competitive experience," Andrew Coltart said of Cameron Smith's Masters chances.

"You can play with your mates at home, you can pretend this counts, you can play for however amount of money. You want to try to make and build that pressure. But there is nothing, there is no substitute for a card and pencil in your back pocket, when it absolutely means everything.

"And yeah, I'm concerned about that for, for not just him but for those group of players who just simply have not had the competitive practice at this point. They must be up against it, speaking from a professional standpoint.

"You can still put a good round together but, you know, you have to get into the flow of knitting those rounds together, of stitching the holes together, of putting that whole tapestry together to end up with a finished product.

"It's not just as simple as 'incredibly, talented individual can go low, handles pressure'. Tiger’s always talked about it. You’ve got to have the reps, it’s the same in any kind of fitness sport. If you're not able to do the fitness stuff because of certain injuries have limited that then its it's just very difficult to get back there and do any sort of personal bests.

"It would be very surprising to see him or anybody be really sort of up there at the end. They are very, very talented players, but I just can't see it based on the lack of reps."

Watch the opening major of the year live from April 6-9 exclusively live on Sky Sports Golf and NOW. Live coverage starts at 2pm on Thursday.