That makes this year’s dinner highly intriguing, considering what has changed in the golf world over the past year. The LIV Golf League was only beginning to gain traction last April, when Hideki Matsuyama hosted. Since then, harsh words have been exchanged on both sides, and Rory McIlroy and LIV’s Patrick Reed got in a dust-up in Dubai over a tossed golf tee.

With Tiger Woods serving as the ultimate Alpha male in the room for the Masters dinner, it’s been posited that the conversation could get really interesting, considering that six players with green jackets and LIV ties would figure to attend — Reed, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson and Charl Schwartzel.

At his press conference on Tuesday at Riviera Country Club, where he will make his first PGA Tour start since last year’s Open Championship in the Genesis Invitational he hosts, Woods said of how he might respond to LIV players at the Masters, “That’s a great question because I don’t know, because I haven’t been around them. 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.”

Those who will attend the dinner who are strongly on the PGA Tour’s side include Scheffler, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth and Fred Couples, who rebuked Mickelson last year for going to LIV and said: “I don’t think I’ll ever talk to him again.”

That sure makes it sound like it could be an awkward room, and Woods was asked how uncomfortable it might be.

“The Champions Dinner is going to be obviously something that’s talked about,” he said. “We as a whole need to honour Scottie. Scottie’s the winner, it’s his dinner. So making sure that Scottie gets honoured correctly, but also realising 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 put it all in a concise package right there. There are plenty of reasons to feel resentment on both sides. LIV Golf has filed an antitrust lawsuit that is still ongoing, while the new league also is fighting to secure valuable world ranking points. Meantime, while LIV doesn’t begin its season until next week in Mexico, the PGA Tour is off to a tremendous start, with Jon Rahm winning The American Express, Max Homa taking the Farmers Open at Torrey Pines, and Scheffler getting a second straight victory in the WM Phoenix Open. And Woods is making his return in another “designated” event featuring most of the top players in the world and another $20 million purse.

“If you go back to this week at Genesis last year to where it’s at now, we all have to say it’s been very turbulent,” Woods said. “We never would have expected the game of golf to be in this situation, but it is, that’s the reality, and I was alluding to trying to create the best product.

“Obviously, they’re a competitive organisation trying to create their best product they possibly can, and we’re trying to create the best product that we think the future of golf, how it should be played. How do we do that? We’re still working on that.

“We have so many of the top players aligned, and how do we support our world partners and the DP World Tour, we need to have our top players understand we need to play around the world and again create the best product possible. It’s been an ebb and flow, it really has. And it’s been difficult, there’s no lie. You’ve seen our ambassador, Rory, go through it. It’s been tough on him, but he’s been exceptional. To able to go through all that, I’ve been with him on all those conference calls and side meetings, and for him to go out there and play and win, it’s been incredible.”

As it happens — and it’s not a coincidence — Woods, McIlroy and Justin Thomas are grouped together for the first two rounds at Riviera, and let’s just say they’ll have a lot to talk about.

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“It was a wonderful dinner last night,” starts Bernhard Langer on the eve of his 37th appearance in the Masters. Langer has enjoyed the Champions dinner since 1986, having won the first of his two Masters titles in 1985.

Part of this tradition is that the defending champion chooses the menu and also addresses the assembled Green Jackets, a responsibility that fell to Tiger Woods this time around.

“Tiger gave a speech that was very emotional,” adds Langer. “He thanked many of us for helping him over the years and he talked about how it was very emotional for him to win here last year because he didn’t know if it would ever happen again. His kids were there in 2019 and he said that giving them a hug when he won reminded him of how Tiger used to give his own parents a hug when he won before. It was a great speech.”

Chairman Ridley says a few words, Ben Crenshaw speaks on behalf of the past champions and then the floor is open to others.

“Gary Player made a few remarks and I did too, on the spur of the moment,” adds Langer. “I felt I should say something on behalf of the international players. I said how the Masters used to be a closed shop for American golfers, but now, to look around the room, we have champions from all over the world: Sandy Lyle from Scotland, Nick Faldo from England, Trevor Immelman from South Africa, Vijay Singh from Fiji, Adam Scott from Australia, and then you have a local boy like Larry Mize from Augusta itself. The tournament reaches around the globe now and so do its champions, and these champions represent the game and the tournament wherever they go. I said how we together can help to grow the game.”

There have been whispers around Augusta National this week about whether Woods might soon retire from competitive golf, but Langer disagrees.

“I don’t think so, not yet,” says Langer. “Tiger has a very competitive edge to his nature and he is going to try to play for a few years yet, if his body holds up. When you see him you think he is the immortal athlete. He looks trim and as strong as you can imagine from the outside. We all know he has had surgeries but he can still create a lot of clubhead speed and with the improved equipment Tiger still hits the ball long enough to be able to compete anywhere. I don’t think Tiger has even considered quitting the game yet.”

Langer, now 63, is the oldest golfer in the Masters field this week, and he also used the Champions Dinner to seek assurance from Chairman Ridley that there is no age limit on past champions entering the Masters.

“I wasn’t sure if there was an unwritten rule for an age limit for past champions to play in the Masters,” admits Langer, “so I did ask the question of the chairman. He said that as long as we can stand upright and play golf we are welcome to play, and that we will all know when the time is right to stop playing.”

Like Woods, Langer has some years of competition ahead at Augusta National, although the soft conditions on the golf course this year make it even more difficult for the senior players in the field to compete.

“Last night Fred Couples walked towards me, shaking his head,” adds Langer. “He said, ‘Bernhard, Bernhard, what are you hitting into holes one, five, seven, 11, 14, 17, 18.’

“He meant the second shots into the par fours. I said, ‘Hold on. One was a 4-iron, five was a 3-wood, seven was a 2-hybrid, then a 3-wood…’

“Fred said, ‘That makes me feel better. I was hitting 2-hybrids and 3-irons and I have never had to do that before.’

“Everyone is going to play longer clubs than usual but the conditions are going to favour the longer hitters. Instead of hitting a 9-iron they might take a 6-iron, whereas I have never had to hit so many 3-woods into par fours than I have this week. The ball is not running at all and there is a lot of humidity in the air.”

It is going to be tough for the seniors in the field this week at Augusta, but Langer has never shirked a challenge.

Bernhard Langer is a Mercedes-Benz Brand Ambassador. Mercedes-Benz is a Global Partner of The Masters. 

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