21 March 2023 , 19:10
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Former Masters winner Ben Crenshaw believes this year's Champions Dinner will be a 'tense' one, with a number of LIV Golf stars invited to attend.
Every year a group of past champions from the famous event dust down their green jackets and enjoy a three-course meal on the Augusta grounds on tournament week, with the menu selected by the reigning champion. This year, it is the turn of Scottie Scheffler, but the 2022 winner may have his work cut out due to some added spice at his dinner party.
This comes thanks to the ongoing split in the professional game following the emergence of the controversial LIV Golf series last summer.
The Saudi-backed circuit has no doubt split opinion, with those choosing to defect to the breakaway league being handed suspensions by the PGA Tour. Players on opposing sides have not held back in their thoughts to their rivals in the months that have followed.
And for the first time in a while, they are all set to be reunited - and around the dinner table - at this year's tournament. There were question marks over whether LIV members were going to be eligible to compete in the opening major of the season following the PGA Tour ban.
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Scottie Scheffler is the man hosting this year's dinner (David Cannon/Getty Images)Augusta bosses though have opted for peace, allowing those who are eligible to qualify to compete. This includes past champions, who will also be able to attend the dinner on the Tuesday of tournament week, despite the differentiating views around the table. One man who will be there is two-time winner Crenshaw, who has attended many an event sine winning his first title in 1984.
It seems this year though, the two-time winner is not looking forward to the meal due to the ongoing dispute in the game. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "It [the Champions Dinner] is going to be difficult, it is probably going to be tense in a few moments.
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Three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson is one of the big names who joined LIV Golf last year (Chris Trotman/LIV Golf/AP/REX/Shutterstock)"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 also gave his thoughts on the current state of professional golf, with the PGA Tour and LIV no nearer to reaching any sort of agreement after being locked in a legal dispute for months.
"People make choices in life," he added. "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."