Patrick Reed hits a tee shot earlier this month throughout a apply spherical for the Saudi International.
Getty Images
Patrick Reed says this yr’s Masters Champions Dinner may have “nothing to do with where someone’s playing.”
In an interview with Golf Digest — which you’ll be able to and may read here in full here — Reed doused the thought that there might be rigidity at the annual occasion, which is held the Tuesday earlier than the event. Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, together with 5 different earlier winners of the occasion, now play with LIV Golf, and the dinner at Augusta National, at the least, will mark an in depth encounter with gamers who’ve been outspoken towards the Saudi-backed collection, most notably Tiger Woods.
But someday forward of LIV’s first occasion of the yr, Reed informed Golf Digest on Thursday that the dinner will proceed to focus on the most-recent winner, who, on this case, is Scottie Scheffler.
LIV rigidity at Masters Champions Dinner? Tiger Woods weighs in
Alan Bastable
“The thing is, the Champions Dinner has nothing to do with myself or any other person in that room except for Scottie Scheffler,” Reed informed Golf Digest. “That’s his dinner. My experiences throughout these dinners have been wonderful. We’re at all times speaking about previous experiences at Augusta, how the opposite guys have received the [Masters], what obstacles they needed to overcome, the photographs they pulled off of their experiences.
“Knowing the guys out here on LIV and also some of the older guys … that night and that dinner is all about Scottie and has nothing to do with where someone’s playing, what happened a week ago, what’s happening going forward. It’s all about that event]. It is literally Scottie’s night and that’s how it’s always going to be.”
Reed’s feedback come after each Woods and Scheffler have been requested at final week’s Genesis Invitational to weigh in on the topic — and after two earlier Masters winners on the LIV collection additionally shared their ideas.
Woods was requested if he anticipated the dinner being “uncomfortable.” The 15-time main champion has been one of many extra outspoken critics of LIV, which has signed a number of PGA Tour gamers to multiyear contracts over the previous yr.
“The Champions Dinner is going to be obviously something that’s talked about,” he mentioned. “We as a whole need to honor Scottie, Scottie’s the winner, it’s his dinner. So making sure that Scottie gets honored 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.”
And Scheffler? At the Genesis, he had this alternate with a reporter:
“Scottie, you’re going to have to choose a dinner that is going to appease everybody at the Champions Dinner,” the reporter began. “I don’t think everyone is anticipating a very light mood that night. Are you thinking about basically what you will say to those guys when there’s going to be a bunch of LIV guys in attendance?”
Scottie Scheffler ‘clueless’ about Masters Champions Dinner protocol
Kevin Cunningham
“Yeah, I haven’t looked that far ahead,” Scheffler mentioned. “I definitely, I don’t know exactly what you’re supposed to say that night. I haven’t really gotten too much info. I’ve got to talk to a few of the guys and figure out what actually goes on that night because I’m still kind of clueless. I’m hoping that it will be a fun night. Gathering all those guys together in a room, I mean, it should be a lot of fun. It’s a historic group of people, Masters champions, and I’m sure that we’ll all put our personal opinions aside and just have a good night and just kind of enjoy what the night really is.”
Three weeks in the past, at the Saudi International, Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson have been additionally requested about any potential battle. They. together with Reed, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel, are Masters winners enjoying for LIV and can, presumably, be at the dinner.
Johnson anticipated peace, telling Irish Golfer that “if there are any guys saying there may be tension, 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.” Watson, in the meantime, took a lighter tone, after Scheffler earlier this yr jokingly mentioned he would put Watson at “a separate table.”
“Hey, as long as I’m in the Champions Dinner, I’m fine,” Watson mentioned. “I’ll sit wherever he tells me. It’s fine. As long as I’m allowed back, I’ll sit wherever he wants me to. I’ll sit outside and just stare in the window.”
Editor’s notice: To learn Golf Digest’s full interview with Reed — which incorporates his ideas on Rory McIlroy — please click here.
Source link
