Rory McIlroy headlines Masters but field features many challengers

AUGUSTA, Ga. ― Let the Rory McIlroy watch begin ― again. The stakes this time are still high, but they are more Masters Tournament -centric.

Instead of needing a victory at Augusta National Golf Club to complete the career Grand Slam – which he did in dramatic fashion last year – the world’s No. 2-ranked player is attempting to be the third player in the 90 editions of the event to win it back to back. To do it, he’ll have to contend with a 91-player field that includes the top 53 players in the world taking on a fiery golf course that is fast and furious – and expected to stay that way.

“It's arguably maybe not the largest field in golf, but it's the strongest,” McIlroy said earlier this week. “There's so many great players and so many players with so much experience on this golf course, it's not quite like some of the other major championships. ” As for the back-to-back Masters quest, Tiger Woods, who is missing his second consecutive Masters, is the last one to do it, in 2001-02.

“I think the nice thing now is instead of it being come on, Rory, you know you can do this (complete the career Grand Slam), it's back to back. There's a real positive connotation to it instead of, geez, Rory, we've been waiting a while. When are you going to get this done?