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Ahead of his 39th appearance at the Masters, Fred Couples has made his feelings clear once more on the LIV Golf League.
Couples, the 1992 Masters champion, has passionately defended the PGA Tour ever since the emergence of the LIV breakaway and has taken aim at players who have spoken disparagingly about his longtime domain.
This week, 13 LIV players are in the field at Augusta National as the PGA Tour scrambles to thrash out a definitive deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund which bankrolls the Greg Norman-fronted startup.
And while Couples acknowledges that the standard is high on LIV, he explained why he still has no time whatsoever for the circuit which has caused such disruption to the men’s professional game.
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“I don’t think I’ll ever understand it,” Couples told reporters. “Maybe I’ll go to one [LIV event] and see what it’s really, really like. I know how great they are as players. I get it all, and I get the 54 holes and you drive a cart to your tee and shotgun. That’s easy to pick on.
“Sometimes I’ve picked on comments that people have made, and I’ve picked on comments that they talk about the Tour, which I’ve said I have now 44 years invested in, and I don’t want anyone picking on a tour that I think is very good.
“Now, everything can get better, but let me tell you, if the LIV tour is better for golf, I’m missing something there.
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“But again, I’m not here to bash them anymore. I’m going to see them all tonight. Do I like coming to this tournament? I love it. Do I like five days before it seeing the people standing there saying we’re coming after the green jacket? I mean, when I was 35, I was coming off the green jacket, too.”
Couples was appearing to make reference to Sergio Garcia’s tweet last week of the 13 LIV players with the caption: “We’re coming for that green jacket.”
The continued: “I don’t think you need to tell people what you’re doing. I mean, everyone at this tournament — you don’t think Ludvig Aberg wants to win the green jacket here, or Hatton?”
“I find their golf very, very good. I love DJ. I love Brooks. I don’t know if they even comment on the LIV Tour. They just play golf.
“So please don’t tell me the LIV Tour is as good as the PGA Tour,” he said. “I don’t want to hear it.”
Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.
