05 April 2023 , 16:14
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Fred Couples "spoke a lot" at Tuesday's Champions Dinner - but the 1992 winner did not address the elephant in the room ahead of the Masters.
There was added spice to Scottie Scheffler's Texas-themed dinner this year as six LIV rebels brushed shoulders with their PGA Tour counterparts in a rare meeting between the two factions of golf's civil war.
Couples has been among the most vocal of LIV critics at a time that has completely divided men's professional golf. The 63-year-old ruffled feathers when calling chief LIV renegade Phil Mickelson a "nutbag" and labelling Sergio Garcia a "clown" during a guest speech at a Champions Tour event last month.
But whilst Couples was engaging with his fellow past champions on Tuesday night, he decided against discussing his views on the contentious LIV tour.
"Couples spoke a lot but didn't mention LIV at all," 1973 winner Tommy Aaron revealed to GolfWeek. "I sat next to Freddie, and he and Ray Floyd kept trying to figure out how many champions had come out of the final group."
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Three-time champion Mickelson, meanwhile, remained quiet during the meal and kept a "low profile," at the end of the table. "I wished him good luck, but I couldn't believe how quiet he was," Aaron said. "Phil took a very low profile. He didn't say a word."
33 previous Masters winners including Phil Mickelson and five other LIV stars attended the dinner (@TheMasters/Twitter)And 1979 winner Fuzzy Fuzzy Zoeller added: "Phil sat near the end of the table and kept to himself. He didn’t speak at all.” Couples has stood by his criticism of both Mickelson and Garcia and his insults made towards them before Tuesday's dinner.
"I’ve made comments but they need to understand," he stated. "If they’ve looked at anything I’ve ever said I call myself the same stuff I’m calling them. I just don’t think they should bash the PGA or anybody. Just go and play golf."
Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Charl Schwartzel were the other LIV rebels present at the Champions Dinner and make up a total contingent of 18 rebels in the field for this year's tournament.