LIV Golf’s Phil Mickelson arrives to the practice area prior to the 2023 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. | Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Do actions speak louder than words?
The Masters Champions Dinner is a tradition that brings past champions of Augusta National together for some story telling and good eating. The host is always the prior year’s winner who also gets to build the menu and pays the tab. The 2022 Masters Champion, Scottie Scheffler, was this year’s host and many were looking forward to his Texas-themed menu options.
One thing that wasn’t on the menu, though, was awkwardness.
Since the PGA Tour invited golfers from LIV Golf to participate in this year’s tournament at Augusta, many have been waiting for something uncomfortable to happen between golfers of both sides. To this point, outside of those from LIV wearing their team shirts on the golf course, things have been pretty calm and welcoming between PGA and LIV. That is, until the previous Masters champions all got together for their traditional dinner event.
Some of those past winners included current LIV golfers — one being Phil Mickelson. According to 1979 winner Fuzzy Zoeller, Mickelson kept to himself throughout the dinner and didn’t say a thing.
“We’re just 33 past champions in a room, all trying to get along,” Zoeller told Golfweek when asked about the PGA-LIV relationship. “Nobody said a word about it. Phil sat near the end of the table and kept to himself. He didn’t speak at all.”
Another Masters legend was Tommy Aaron who was at the dinner as well. He also spoke to Golfweek adding that he tried wishing Mickelson good luck, but appears he didn’t get a response back.
“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.”
One thing is certain, this storyline isn’t going to go away. Once tournament play begins Thursday all bets are off when it comes to playing nice with one another, so to speak. So perhaps Mickelson is just warming up his game face for the tournament.
But hey, at least he and the others smiled for the camera.
