The US Masters golf tournament is one of sports most beautiful occasions. The only one of the four major championships to be played at the same venue every year, it takes place at the Augusta National Golf Club in the town of Augusta, Georgia.

A pristine place of privilege, the course is well known to all golf lovers, particularly the back nine holes, numbers 10 to 18, which for many years were the only part of the course that the Augusta hierarchy would allow to be televised in order to maintain a certain mystique about the venue. Although that tradition has long since been dispensed with, The Masters still insists on certain quirks. In every other golf tournament in the world the people who go along to watch the action are referred to as fans. Not so at Augusta. Such individuals must be referred to as ‘patrons’ by all media outlets and players. For many years the membership of Augusta was all male and all white, things that have only changed in recent years.

Whatever the oddities, the tournament remains compulsive viewing for golf fans given the dramatic action that often unfolds. Many eyes will focus this year on a man by the name of Bryson DeChambeau, who has been hitting the golf ball longer than any player in the history of the game. Another name to look out for is that of Englishman Lee Westwood, who is seeking to become the oldest winner of the event. The current holder of that record is Jack Nicklaus whose son Jackie caddied for him when he won in 1986. This year Sam Westwood is on his dads bag. History sometimes repeats. Ireland’s Rory McIlroy will need a dramatic improvement in recent form if he is to contend.

The action kicks off tomorrow. All will be revealed on Sunday night.