The PGA vs LIV controversy is a hot topic in the golf fraternity. The 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples fueled the fire after he made comments about LIV golfers Phil Mickelson and Sergio Gracia.
Just recently, on April 4, at the Masters Dinner, all the previous champions arrived to sit down together at Augusta National Golf Club. Everyone felt that there would be some sort of tension at the dinner table. But by God's grace, the event was successful and no one from either side made any comments on each other.
While speaking to Golfweek, 1973 Masters champion Tommy Aaron stated that Fred Couples spoke a lot but did not mention anything about LIV. He said,
"Couples spoke a lot but didn't mention LIV at all. 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."
However, Aaron revealed that Phil Mickelson kept a 'low-profile' during the meal while sitting at the end of the table, he said,
"I wished him good luck, but I couldn't believe how quiet he was! Phil took a very low profile. He didn't say a word."
Even the 1979 Masters Champion Fuzzy Fuzzy Zoeller shared that Phil Mickelson kept a low profile,
"Phil sat near the end of the table and kept to himself. He didn't speak at all."
Fred Couples, before Tuesday's dinner, made some comments on LIV Golfers. Later on, he supported his comments by saying,
"I've made comments, but they need to understand 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 Tour or anybody, just go play golf."
Earlier, Fred Couples called out Phil Mickelson as a 'nutbag' and Sergio Garcia a 'clown', which garnered a lot of attention from fans and golf veterans.
17 LIV Golfers, including Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, and Bubba Watson, are set to tee off on April 6 at the 2023 Masters tournament.
Full list of players participating in the 2023 Masters
A total of 90 players are scheduled to participate in 87th edition of The Masters tournament:
- Fred Couples
- Sandy Lyle
- Patrick Reed
- Jordan Spieth
- Sergio Garcia
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Scottie Scheffler
- Bubba Watson
- Dustin Johnson
- Phil Mickelson
- Mike Weir
- Zach Johnson
- Larry Mize
- Charl Schwartzel
- Tiger Woods
- Bernhard Langer
- Jose Maria Olazabal
- Adam Scott
- Vijay Singh
- Danny Willett
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Gary Woodland
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Jon Rahm
- Brooks Koepka
- Shane Lowry
- Francesco Molinari
- Collin Morikawa
- Cameron Smith
- Justin Thomas
- Sam Bennett
- Ben Carr
- Aldrich Potgieter
- Harrison Crowe
- Matthew McClean
- Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira
- Cameron Champ
- Sungjae I'm
- Will Zalatoris
- Corey Conners
- Rory McIlroy
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Viktor Hovland
- Cameron Young
- Mito Pereira
- Keegan Bradley
- Max Homa
- Chris Kirk
- Xander Schauffele
- Adam Svensson
- Sam Burns
- Mackenzie Hughes
- Kurt Kitayama
- Patrick Cantlay
- Bill Horschel
- Tony Finau
- Kim Si Woo
- Seamus Power
- Russell Henley
- Tom Kim
- Justin Rose
- Brian Harman
- Joaquin Niemann
- Scott Stallings
- Sahith Theegala
- Tom Hoge
- JT Poston
- Sepp Straka
- Aaron Wise
- Taylor Moore
- Lee Kyoung Hoon
- Abraham Ancer
- Tyrell Hatton
- Adrian Meronk
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Ryan Fox
- Kevin Kisner
- Kevin Na
- Thomas Pieters
- Talor Gooch
- Jason Kokrak
- Alex Noren
- Harold Varner III
- Sam Burns
- Jason Day
- Harris English
- Keith Mitchell
- Min Woo Lee
- Kazuki Higa
- Gordon Sargent
Amidst the PGA vs LIV controversy going around, the officials of the 2023 Masters announced 17 LIV golfers were eligible to play at this year's tournament.