nothing round Augusta National is strictly what it kind of feels. You’ve perhaps learn, right here and somewhere else, all of the outdated tales in regards to the position. Those chook noises you pay attention at the TV protection? They say they are dubbed in via the broadcaster. That azure water within the ponds? The groundskeepers are meant to dye it simply the appropriate hue of blue. And all that immaculate grass? The whisper is that they spray paint the naked patches. The membership has at all times refused to verify or deny any of it. Pay no consideration to that guy in the back of the curtain, simply benefit from the azaleas and feature some other cup of iced tea.
This yr, regardless that, the ambience right here feels much more unreal than same old. For this week, no less than, any person turns out to have known as off the civil struggle that is break up the game between the rival excursions. Seems the ones well-known southern manners are infectious.
Apparently, Sergio Garcia did not know anything else in regards to the information of the landmark ruling made via the arbitrators in want of the DP World Tour’s resolution to sanction the 12 gamers who joined LIV, despite the fact that it used to be all any person used to be speaking about on Tuesday, and without delay impacts him. “I haven’t heard,” Garcia stated. “I haven’t been a part of it. I tried to stay away from all that. Rory McIlroy didn’t have an opinion on it either, other than “if the arbitration panel think that’s the right decision, then I have to go by what they say”.
Tiger Woods, meanwhile, absolutely doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that his management company, Excel Sports, doesn’t have any clients on the LIV tour. “That’s about Excel and what they want to do,” he said. “No, I do not have any direct influence”, although, he added with that familiar grin, “I have my opinions.” And as for Phil Mickelson, well, he’s just delighted to be back here after missing it last year. “It’s great. It’s fun to be back. Everyone has been wonderful,” he said on Tuesday. “Everybody here is so classy. Gosh, it’s fun to be here.”
Just last month Fred Couples described Mickelson as a “nutbag”, said that he didn’t think he’d ever talk to him again, and that “if you’re giving Phil Mickelson 200 million at age 52 to shoot 74 and 75, God bless you”. Well it appears that is all in the back of them too. “I would like to be paired with Phil,” Couples stated previous this week. “I mean, he’s one of the best players that ever played. He loves this place as much as I do, and if we did, we’d look at each other on the first hole and we’d have a good time.” He also called Garcia a “clown”, then described him this week as “one of the Top 10 players I’ve ever seen hit a ball.”
“Fred and I are longtime friends and we’ve had a lot of great experiences in the game of golf,” said Mickelson, “I think the world of him, and I hope we have a chance to have more great experiences with him as well.
It’s like this every which way you turn. “I haven’t felt any tension, it’s just nice to see them again,” says Thomas Pieters. “Everything’s been just right, guy, we are nonetheless the similar folks,” provides Brooks Koepka. “Everybody has been fantastic, I’ve had no issues,” provides Bryson DeChambeau. “For me it’s the same. All my buddies are still my buddies, and we play, and it’s still golf,” drawled Dustin Johnson. There’s more bromides flying around the range than balls.
But then you don’t keep a dog and bark yourself, and away from Augusta, in court rooms and board rooms around the world, there are battalions of well-paid lawyers going back and forth over the various lawsuits between the tours. Back at the course, it’s beginning to feel almost as if the players have agreed between them that while they’re on the grounds then it’s all out of bounds, and for now, no one’s mentioning the fact that some of the legal teams have been going around handing out subpoenas to the other players on Christmas Eve.
Maybe it’s that, as McIlroy said, “this week and this tournament is way bigger than any of that”. More likely it’s that the club themselves have let the players know what they expect from them.
“I’ve noticed the tone has been really good here this week,” stated Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley. “I’ve spotted the gamers are interacting. Last night time on the Champions Dinner, I do not need identified that anything else used to be happening on the planet {of professional} golfing rather than the norm.” Mmm-hmm. According to 1979 champion Fuzzy Zoeller, Mickelson “sat close to the tip of the desk and saved to himself, he did not talk in any respect.” The 1973 champion Tommy Aaron said he “couldn’t believe how quiet he was. Phil took a very low profile. He didn’t say a word.”
If you wish to have an concept of how folks actually really feel, stay a detailed eye at the 18th inexperienced come Sunday. LIV’s ringmaster Greg Norman, who is been blackballed from the match, promised that the 18 golfers right here from his excursion will all be there to have a good time in combination if one among them wins this week. For McIlroy, Woods, and everybody else at the different facet of the divide, there is no doubt that feels like a problem. There’s masses at stake at each Masters, however this yr, there is a little further to head with it, whether or not or now not any of the gamers are going to confess it.