Of all the spectacles in sports, none face a greater challenge of standing out than the Masters. Fans are buzzing off the high of MLB's Opening Day while still trying to come down from the frenzy and bracket-busting heartbreak of March Madness. Heck, many might be burnt out from a full WrestleMania weekend. It is easy for golf's most sacred event to get lost in the shuffle.

And yet, there is never a risk of that happening. Whether or not you can tell the difference between a 6-iron or 3-wood is irrelevant. The sheer splendor that emanates from Augusta might be overstated at this point, but that does not make it less true.  There may be no other championship that feels quite as life-or-death as the quest for the Green Jacket.

When a player collapses down the home stretch, it will forever be a part of his legacy. And if a journeyman clinches victory on the 18th, he will immediately have a new glow about him in the eyes of the public. This year's edition feels even bigger with the ongoing war between the PGA and LIV Golf.

The abundance of storylines and legacy implications make this one of the most highly-anticipated majors in recent history. I will try to sort through it all the best I can with three bold predictions for the 2023 Masters Tournament.

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1. Jordan Spieth will win his second Masters

Let's start off with a bang. There are clear front-runners for the title. Scottie Scheffler is the world No. 1 and defending champion. Coincidentally, Rory McIlroy is No. 2 and last year's runner-up and seems destined to avenge his 2012 Augusta collapse and lay claim to the career Grand Slam. Jon Rahm played a magnificent stretch of golf to begin 2023. But none of that takes into account the Masters magic that often finds Jordan Spieth.

Spieth has only donned the Green Jacket once (2015), but he boasts four other top five finishes and could have won multiple times. Many see his 2016 implosion highlighted by a triple bogey on the twelfth hole as the turning point of his career. He was once a possible successor to Tiger Woods, but has now gone almost six years without a major tournament win. The 29-year-old can be both brilliant and erratic. Spieth is truly an enigma of the sport, but now is the time he reminds everyone just how special he can be.

Spieth will not blow anyone away with his 2023 striking or putting statistics, but he has played well overall to start the year with three top 10 finishes. There have been the same troubling final-round blunders that keep him from the top of the leaderboard, but as stated before, his game shines its brightest on this golf course. He has stayed in the top 20 in the world rankings and is poised for a superstar showing.

After a rare 2022 performance in which he missed the cut, expect Jordan Spieth to be true to form and completely dazzle the crowd with his best effort in years. But expect a Spiethian scare or two on his march to victory.

2. Phil Mickelson will make the cut

The poster boy of LIV, Phil Mickelson is an Augusta great with three Masters wins and seven additional top five showings. Him surviving the first two days does not feel like a stretch at all. However, his play has precipitously declined with him placing near the bottom of LIV's much smaller field of competition in all the tournaments he has competed in this year. Furthermore, he is carrying a lot more baggage than he did the last time he played in a PGA event.

Mickelson's remarks about the Saudi Arabia-backed league dealt a big blow to his reputation and obviously formed a massive rift between him and the PGA. But the chip on his shoulder will be massive too. Lefty will be motivated to turn back the clock, not all the way to his glory days, but to his competitive ones.

Of the 18 LIV golfers who will be at the Masters, Mickelson will be a definite long shot to win, but his strong driving  will carry him to Sunday.

3. Brooks Koepka will finish in top 15

Another LIV disruptor, Brooks Koepka is finally looking like his pre-knee surgery self and is primed for a big run at the Masters after missing the cut the last two years. The four-time major champion just claimed victory in the LIV Golf Invitational Orlando at the end of March and now comes into Georgia fully healthy.

I am tempted to go a bit higher than top 15, but I think that is bold enough given that he has fallen outside the top 100 in the world rankings. Cameron Smith is seen as many as the PGA rival tour's best chance at seizing the Green Jacket, but Koepka is always motivated for the big tournaments. He plays for majors, and there is no major with more esteem than the Masters. He nearly won it in 2019, finishing one stroke back of Tiger Woods.

Expect Koepka to find plenty of greens and also rub some people the wrong way with his sometimes indifferent demeanor.

The stage is set. Thursday promises to be the beginning of a truly crucial 2023 Masters. The combination of bragging rights, redemption arcs and history will make Augusta even more electric than usual.