Whatever about the food, Tiger Woods says there’s plenty of uncertainty on the menu for this year’s Masters Champions Dinner at Augusta National.
The annual dinner is two months away but the five-time Masters winning Woods, who’s returning to PGA Tour competition at this week’s Genesis Invitational and a first ‘regular’ Tour event since October 2020, was asked his thoughts ahead of this week’s Genesis Invitational in attending the Augusta dinner where half-a-dozen fellow Masters winners but now LIV Golf players will be sharing the same table.
“That’s a great question because I don’t know because I haven’t been around them,” said Woods when asked what his demeanour may be like being present in the same room as Phil Mickelson (Winner of the Masters in 2004, 2006, 2010), Charl Schwartzel (2011), Bubba Watson (2012, 2014), Sergio Garcia (2017), Patrick Reed (2018) and Dustin Johnson (2020)
“Some of the players out here have. For instance, Rory’s in Dubai with some of those players.
“I don’t know, I don’t know what that reaction’s going to be. I know that some of our friendships have certainly taken a different path, but we’ll see when all that transpires. That is still a couple months away.”
However, Woods was again asked if it would feel uncomfortable.
“The Champions Dinner is going to be obviously something that’s talked about,” he said. “We as a whole need to honour Scottie, the winner, it’s his dinner. So making sure that Scottie gets honoured correctly but also realizing the nature of what has transpired and the people that have left, just where our situations are either legally, emotionally, there’s a lot there.”
Woods’ ‘discomfort’ is different to the views being expressed by LIV Masters winners Garcia, Reed and Johnson who are each on record is saying they see no tension at the Augusta dinner, with Reed indicating: “The dinner conversations amongst everyone are all about our past experiences, what we saw at Augusta that week we won, and the dinner is what it is, a dinner for all the former champions.
“Of all the fellow Masters winners I have bumped into since joining LIV, and I’m talking about those who are not LIV, have treated me all the same without any tension whatsoever.
“So, there will be no tension whatsoever when we sit down for dinner at Augusta and if Jordan (Spieth) or Scottie (Scheffler) ask me to pass the salt or the sugar I am going to pass it to them (Laughing).”
Johnson, who was fitted by Woods into his Augusta National green jacket in 2020, stated that if there is any tension at the former champions dinner, it will not be his doing.
“I heard what was said about possible tension at the dinner but there will not be any tension from me and, besides I still have a great relationship with all my fellow Masters champions, so I don’t see why there will be any issues or tension at the dinner,” said DJ.
“If there are any guys saying there may be tension that it has nothing to do with a few of us playing LIV compared to competing on the PGA Tour, as that tension was already there.”
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