Tiger Woods “unsure” about seeing LIV golfers at Masters

Tiger Woods says he’s unsure how he’ll feel at this year’s Masters Tournament when he comes face to face with LIV Golf players.  

As it stands, 15 players attached to the Saudi-funded league are eligible to compete at Augusta in April. That number could rise this week when LIV reveals its 2023 team rosters, with Mito Pereira amongst those tipped to join the circuit. 

Given the tension created by the new entity’s emergence, Woods – who makes his first start of 2023 at this week’s Genesis Invitational – admits that The Masters has the potential to be awkward.

• Johnson suffers blow ahead of new LIV season

• Tiger Woods confirms PGA Tour comeback

Asked how he thinks he’ll handle being in the company of LIV players, the 47-year-old replied: “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. That is still a couple months away.”

Of the 15 LIV players already in the field, six will be at the Champions Dinner on the Tuesday night of Masters week, namely Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed, as well as Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson and Charl Schwartzel. 

Again, Woods acknowledged that could be an awkward event but insisted that everybody’s focus should be on the defending champ and not inter-tour politics.

• 13 big names not yet in The Masters field

We as a whole need to honour Scottie [Scheffler],” said the four-time Masters champion. “Scottie’s the winner, it’s his dinner. So making sure that Scottie gets honorued 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.”

This week marks the first anniversary of talk of LIV beginning to intensify and, though he has only played three times on tour since then, Woods admits that it has been a “very turbulent” year.

“We never would have expected the game of golf to be in this situation, but it is, that’s the reality,” he said. “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. 

• Scheffler regains world No.1 spot

“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 be 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.