It’s being billed as ‘The Rory-Scottie Show’ and understandably so, but, while one has nothing to prove in The Masters after triumphing in two of the last three editions, the other, of course, is still trying to come up with a winning formula at Augusta National. Rory McIlroy blew a golden opportunity to have been a regular by now at the Champions’ Dinner at the season’s opening major when letting a four-shot lead heading into the final round slip from his grasp at the Georgia venue in 2011 and is now living to regret that. Since setting up the opportunity to become just the sixth player in the game’s history to complete a career grand slam, the Northern Irishman has seen ten attempts to win a Green Jacket come and go and, as a consequence, still finds himself trying to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as true golfing giants. He’s recorded six top-ten finishes in that time and ended up second behind Scottie Scheffler in 2022, but, perhaps due to the extra burden now on his shoulders when it comes to this particular event, McIlroy has never really managed to fire on all cylinders in the one that matters most to him. “What do you say to a guy who has more talent (than most) in his little finger and just hasn't performed at one tournament that he desperately wants to win?” said two-time US Open champion Curtis Strange, speaking on a media conference call set up by ESPN ahead of the event’s 89th edition, which gets underway on Thursday. “That doesn't make him a failure or an underachiever by any stretch. It's just he hasn't come through at this one particular week of the year.” Could this be the one, though? For the first time, the world No 2 is heading into the opening major of the year with two PGA Tour wins under his belt in a calendar year, having produced an impressive performance to land the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February then adding The Players Championship in a play-off just under three weeks ago. “I thought it was really important,” opined Andy North, another two-time US Open champion, on the same call as fellow ESPN golf analyst Strange of McIlroy prevailing in a play-off against J.J. Spaun to win the PGA Tour's flagship event for a second time at TPC Sawgrass in Florida. “We've seen him not finish out some of those types of events. You look at the run he had in majors, playing so well over the last six, seven, eight years, but hasn't won. I think coming back Monday morning and winning, that was really important. “But he also won early in the year. He's playing really well. He talked about having a little bit of an issue with his elbow after he finished playing really well on Sunday (in his final warm up event in Houston), so it'll be interesting to see if this is a serious thing or if this is just a wear-and-tear deal and see how it is when he shows up at Augusta. “But he really is an amazing player. When you watch him, he's the best I've ever seen when he's at his best. I think the way he putted the ball at The Players, I was able to walk around one of the rounds with him there and was really, really impressed at the eight and ten-footers that he made there. That's not always the case with him.” While it remains to be seen if that elbow issue will be untimely, it would be another huge boost for golf at a time when TV ratings are on the rise again on the PGA Tour if next week’s event turned into a back-nine shoot-out between the game’s two top-ranked players, with Scheffler still holding the No 1 spot but being put under a pressure again by McIlroy. “I'm looking forward to the Rory-Scottie Show,” declared Strange, joking that the conversation could stop there. “We have Scottie and Rory playing well. Rory seems to be hitting on all cylinders, which is a good thing for the slam. Scottie going for three wins, then Xander [Schauffele] and [Collin] Morikawa and a few others are playing well. You go on hunches, and you go on feelings, and I really think both Rory and Scottie will be there at the end.” If that’s the case, who is going to come out on top? “I don't know,” admitted North with a smile. “I think it depends. Do we see a Scottie that's been so far this year (not at his best after suffering a nasty hand injury on Christmas Day) or the guy that we saw last year? “I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on Rory to try to win. I think if they're tied with three holes to go, I'd have to go with Scottie just because I think Rory might be trying so hard to finish it off that he gets in his own way.” “Yeah, that could be one way of it,” said Strange. “I just think they both have so much talent. I really think that Scottie, last year, was more consistent, obviously, because he won nine times on the PGA Tour. But I think Rory, just like that, could have a year like that, get some putts to go, get in a rhythm, get in a rhythm just like Scottie did last year. “I think he's playing well. I think he's making some putts. You know, he missed a couple coming down the stretch at The Players when he could have put it away. It was so important for him to win there because I think he should have put it away on Sunday and it would have been very disappointing if he’d lost in the play-off.”