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LIV and let live: Masters still about who wins green jacket

April 6, 2023

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Masters Chairman Fred Ridley sat among 33 champions in green jackets at golf’s most exclusive dinner. It was a time to celebrate Scottie Scheffler as the most recent winner, to share laughs, memories and even a few tears.

That’s how it is every year at Augusta National.

“I would not have known that anything was going on in the world of professional golf other than the norm,” Ridley said on the eve of a Masters unlike any other. “So I think – and I’m hopeful – that this week might get people thinking in a little bit different direction and things will change.”

There’s a full menu of activity at this tournament.

Tiger Woods returns for his 25th appearance with hopes his course knowledge can compensate for battered legs as he pursues another green jacket. Rory McIlroy gets another crack at the one major that keeps him from the career Grand Slam. No one has won the Masters back-to-back since Woods in 2002, and with Scheffler the No. 1 player in the world, he has an excellent chance.

The forecast is for the weather to turn nasty this weekend. The real storm has been brewing for the last 10 months since the launch of LIV Golf and the 18 players at the Masters who defected to the rival league for its Saudi riches.

There have been accusations that LIV Golf isn’t serious competition with its 54-hole events, and even some name-calling – Fred Couples referred to Phil Mickelson as a “nutbag” – of LIV players for turning their backs on the tour that made them famous.

“Everyone thinks we suck now, so I want to play great,” Harold Varner III said, a LIV player with “Golf Saudi” on his bag. Varner joined for the money. He makes no secret about that.

All that gets set aside on Thursday when the players – professional and amateur, PGA Tour loyalists and those with LIV – have one thing in common.

“We talk about all these issues in golf, but we are here this week – these 88 players – and that’s all that’s on their mind is playing for that green jacket,” Ridley said. “It’s a great symbol of celebration of this game. And we’re looking forward to seeing someone donning it on Sunday afternoon.”

Normalcy is hard to find these days.

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf are involved in an antitrust lawsuit – a case management conference before a federal judge is scheduled for Friday afternoon, about the time Woods should be headed to Amen Corner.

A London-based arbitration panel reportedly will rule this week in favor of the European tour’s ability to sanction LIV players.

The large oak tree next to the Augusta National clubhouse is where all the VIPs across golf gather. Missing was Greg Norman, the CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf.

Norman stoked the debate by telling The Daily Telegraph if a LIV player won the Masters, the other 17 would be waiting for him behind the 18th green to celebrate. Norman won’t be there because he says he wasn’t invited.

“They only sent me a grounds pass last year and nothing, zilch, this time around,” he said. “I’m disappointed because it’s so petty, but of course I’ll still be watching.”

Ridley was quick to point out that Norman, typically invited as a two-time British Open champion, showed up only twice in the last 10 years, once while doing radio commentary.

“We did not extend an invitation to Mr. Norman. The primary issue and the driver there is that I want the focus this week to be on the Masters competition, on the great players that are participating, the greatest players in the world,” Ridley said.

That includes LIV players. Ridley made sure of that when he announced in December that while he’s not happy with the fractured environment in golf, the Masters would honor players who qualified under the criteria.

By appearance, it certainly seems normal.

The players invited to take part in formal press conferences were the usual suspects – that included British Open champion Cameron Smith, the last big name to sign with LIV – though Phil Mickelson declined. The starting times had a mixture of PGA Tour and LIV Golf players, though none of the LIV players are part of the featured groups that will be streamed live.

Brooks Koepka played a practice round Tuesday with McIlroy, who has delivered some of the sharpest digs at LIV Golf over the last year. Koepka, a four-time major champion, last week became the first multiple-event winner at LIV Golf. McIlroy sent him a text to congratulate him and Koepka asked if he wanted to play a practice round.

Was it an indication of thawing relations between the rival circuits?

“I guess you could say that. It’s more just two friends wanting to play together,” Koepka said. “I just wanted to play with him, just compare my game. I know he’s been playing well. It was good for me to see, and I think it’s fun to be able to go play with these guys.”

And then he was back to playing with LIV colleagues on Wednesday.

“Everything’s been good, man,” Koepka said. “We’re still the same people.”

The idea is to make this the same Masters as it’s always been, and Ridley said he was happy to see the “tone has been really good here this week.”

“Golf brings people together, and I’m equally hopeful this week Augusta can be the beginning of a path forward for our game,” he said.

For now, all paths lead toward a green jacket. And that makes this Masters no different from so many others.

MIZE AND LYLE TO PLAY FINAL MASTERS; HOGE WINS PAR-3 CONTEST

Larry Mize and Sandy Lyle delivered two of the most memorable shots in Masters history in consecutive years.

Mize, the first champion born in Augusta, holed a 140-foot chip from the right of the 11th green in the second hole of a playoff to beat Greg Norman in 1987, probably the one shot that haunts Norman the most. The next year, Lyle hit 7-iron from the fairway bunker on the 18th hole to 10 feet and made the birdie putt to win.

Now they are linked again. They announced this will be their final year playing the Masters.

“As they were in 1988, when Larry presented the green jacket to Sandy, they are connected again this week,” Masters Chairman Fred Ridley said. “We commend them for their fine play over four decades and for representing the Masters so well. Rest assured, their victories will forever be remembered.”

This is Mize’s 40th consecutive Masters, while Lyle was part of the “Big Five” from Europe who once seemingly ruled the Masters. Lyle, Bernhard Langer, Seve Ballesteros, Ian Woosnam and Nick Faldo combined to win nine times between 1980 and 1996, including a stretch of seven wins in 12 years.

The news was shared with the 33 champions at the Masters club dinner Tuesday night.

“Larry got a little emotional,” two-time champion Jose Maria Olazabal said. “He had a hard time trying to speak. Actually, he didn’t. It was a very emotional dinner. So it was nice.”

PAR-3 CONTEST

Tom Hoge aced the eighth hole over Ike’s Pond on his way to winning the Par-3 Contest on Wednesday.

Hoge received a crystal vase for the hole-in-one, a crystal bowl for his winning round of 6 under, and some steep history to overcome: No winner of the Par-3 Contest, which dates to 1960, has gone on to win the Masters.

“I made a few birdies early and then the hole-in-one on 8, so that was cool to see that go in,” Hoge said after walking off the recently renovated Par-3 Course in the northeast corner of the property. “Just a fun day out here this afternoon.”

Bubba Watson also had a hole-in-one and finished second at 5 under, while Seamus Power stole the show with back-to-back aces, joining Claude Harman in 1968 and Toshi Izawa in 2002 as the only players to accomplish the feat.

“Obviously to get one was special,” Power said, “but to get the second one was a bit surreal.”

ROLLING BACK THE BALL

Ridley tipped his hand without trying to during his annual news conference Wednesday when it came to the USGA and R&A proposal for a modified local rule rolling back the golf ball.

It would mean tournaments could choose to require a different ball, and use it to curtail distance, and it’s clear the U.S. Open and British Open will go along. It’s not a done deal, though, as the comment period goes through Augusta.

“Our position has always been that we support the governing bodies,” Ridley said of the Masters. “I think, in a general sense, we do support the proposal, but because it’s in the middle of a comment period, it could change. … So we will look at the final product and make a decision.

“We believe distance needs to be addressed,” Ridley added. “I think the natural conclusion is, yes, we will be supportive.”

CRITERIA UPDATE

Even as Augusta National said in December it would keep its criteria for invitations, which allowed LIV Golf players to get in, Ridley offered a reminder that the club looks at every aspect of the Masters and was open to changes.

The ones made this year were minor, though.

The Masters offered a special invitation to Gordon Sargent, the NCAA champion from Vanderbilt, and starting next year the college champion will be a permanent category. That means seven amateurs will be offered spots.

Everything else was roughly the same. The Masters added language similar to the U.S. Open that says those that qualify and are eligible for the Tour Championship will be offered invitations. Talor Gooch qualified for East Lake by being in the top 30 in FedEx Cup points, but he wasn’t eligible because the PGA Tour suspended him for joining LIV Golf.

The language also was tweaked on giving spots to winners of PGA Tour events offering full FedEx Cup points, only because starting in 2024 the tour is going away from a wraparound season. The short version: Players winning tournaments in the fall will still get into the Masters.

WEATHER WATCH

Blue skies, puffy white clouds and warm, humid temperatures greeted players for their final practice rounds Wednesday, but the forecast for the weekend calls for far different conditions around Augusta National.

The opening round Thursday will still be warm, with highs in the mid-80s, but rain is expected to move through the area on Friday. With it comes a cold front, dropping highs into the 50s, and there is a near-100% chance of rain this weekend.

“I think it will be a long week,” said Patrick Cantlay, the former UCLA and Servite High star. “Usually when there’s weather, the rounds drag on and it looks like there may be some delays as well. I imagine the golf course will play particularly long this year.”

That also doesn’t bode well for players such as Woods, whose bodies get a bit creaky when temperatures take a dive.

Asked whether he’d seen the forecast, Woods replied: “Oh, yeah. I’ve seen it.”

AP sports writer Dave Skretta contributed to this story.

Orange County Register

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LIV and let live: Masters still about who wins green jacket

MIZE AND LYLE TO PLAY FINAL MASTERS; HOGE WINS PAR-3 CONTEST

PAR-3 CONTEST

ROLLING BACK THE BALL

CRITERIA UPDATE

WEATHER WATCH

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