Masters champion on LIV Golf pros at Champions Dinner: "It will be TENSE!"
Ben Crenshaw gives his verdict ahead of LIV Golf and PGA Tour pros meeting at The Masters.
Two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw has revealed the upcoming Champions Dinner will be "tense in a few moments" when LIV Golf and PGA Tour players meet for the first time in a while.
The Champions Dinner on Tuesday 4 April, two days before the start of golf's first major of the season, will mark the first time that many LIV Golf and PGA Tour players have met since the 150th Open Championship last July.
Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion at The Masters and he has the honours of putting the menu together. Among the standout items are cheeseburger sliders, firecracker shrimp and Texas ribeye steaks.
Only those that have ever slipped on a Green Jacket are invited to the Champions Dinner.
In total, there will be six LIV Golf players attending the dinner. Those are Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson and Charl Schwartzel.
DJ has spoken about tension at the table.
The remaining invited guests will all be closely associated to the PGA Tour, such as Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Jack Nicklaus and Sir Nick Faldo.
Two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw believes next month's Champions Dinner at Augusta National could be 'tense' - with a number of LIV Golfers due to attend the evening. pic.twitter.com/bIMq4wdWbf
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) March 21, 2023
Crenshaw, who won The Masters in 1984 and 1995, believes many attendees in the room will have their heads down in their plates, and not just because the food tastes good.
"It [the Champions Dinner] is going to be difficult, it is probably going to be tense in a few moments," Crenshaw told Sky Sports Golf this week.
"But, some of the players too have said 'look, all these guys that have made the choices they have made are still going to be my friends'. I applaud that, I think that is the way we ought to keep going."
Crenshaw, who won 19 times on the PGA Tour, added: "People make choices in life. I am very old fashioned. I don't particularly like what is going on. The worse thing to me is it has fractioned some relationships."
LIV Golf will also have further representation in the field with Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka.
