{"id":383851,"date":"2024-04-11T21:59:25","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T21:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=383851"},"modified":"2024-04-11T23:03:09","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T23:03:09","slug":"room-grew-quiet-after-what-masters-legend-said","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=383851","title":{"rendered":"'Room grew quiet' after what Masters legend said"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Watson only saw unity, conversation and easy laughter among 33 champions at the Masters<\/a> Club dinner, seven of them now with Saudi-funded LIV Golf<\/a>. Watson longs for the day golf can feel that way all year long.<\/p>\n

Unity is a popular topic at the first major of the year because the PGA Tour<\/a> has suspended LIV players for defecting to the rival circuit. The only time all the world's best get together are at the majors, and the Masters is the first chance for that since July.<\/p>\n

Watson said he asked Masters chairman Fred Ridley if he could speak toward the end of the Champions Dinner on Tuesday night (US time).<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 US Masters golf live and free on Nine and <\/strong><\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> from April 12-15<\/strong><\/em>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI'm looking around the room and I'm seeing just a wonderful experience everybody is having,\u201d Watson, a two-time Masters champion, said from Augusta National, where the 2024 Masters began on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are jovial. They are having a great time. They are laughing. And I said, \u2018Ain\u2019t it good to be together again?'\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Honorary<\/p>\n

Watson said the room grew quiet and then it was time to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in a sense, I hope that the players themselves took that to say, \u2018You know, we have to do something',\u201d Watson said. He paused before repeating, "We have to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson, three-time champion Gary Player and six-time champion Jack Nicklaus were together again on the first tee Thursday night to hit the honourary tee shot, which was delayed by overnight rain.<\/p>\n

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They have combined to win 35 majors \u2014 Nicklaus and Player own the career grand slam \u2014 and are major figures in golf who are among those saddened by the split in in the game as a result of the arrival of LIV Golf. The circuit lured away major champions with guaranteed Saudi riches.<\/p>\n

But the Masters Club is a time for celebration. It was said to be like that a year ago with no difference this time around. Most of stories were about Seve Ballesteros because the defending Masters champion is also a Spaniard, Jon Rahm.<\/p>\n

There is no indication the two tours are about to come together, even as the PGA Tour negotiates with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia \u2014 the money behind LIV \u2014 as a minority investor in the new commercial enterprise.<\/p>\n

Among the obstacles for unification is a path back to the PGA Tour for LIV players, assuming they all want to return.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best outcome is the best players play against each other all the time,\u201d said Nicklaus, who has a stake in golf with his Memorial Tournament.<\/p>\n

He said he has spoken with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and was told the tour was doing fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Jay thinks we\u2019re doing fine, we\u2019ll get there. I think we\u2019ll get there,\u201d Nicklaus said. \u201cAnd I certainly hope that happens, the sooner the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Player believes any solution has to include paying players who stayed loyal to the tour.<\/p>\n

\"DeChambeau<\/p>\n

\u201cYou've got to get together and come to a solution. If you cannot \u2014 it's not good,\u201d he said. \u201cThe public don't like it, and we as professionals don't like it, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listening to the news conference from the front row was former PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, now an Augusta National member. He retired before the Saudis got involved in golf and has stayed relatively quiet, not willing to offer an opinion.<\/p>\n

Finchem was in his first year as commissioner in 1994 when he quickly shot down Greg Norman's effort to start a world tour. He said in 2010 he could foresee a world tour in the future without knowing what shape it could take.<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy has been among those suggesting a series of tournaments around the world for the top players, and that perhaps any solution with LIV could include that.<\/p>\n

Finchem isn't so sure the fractured landscape will yield any form of a world tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cGolf is not much different than it was 10 years ago and it won't be much different 10 years from now,\u201d Finchem said. \u201cThey shouldn't muck around with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the only thing everyone can agree on is that having players scattered among different tours and only competing against other four times a year isn't helping the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know it\u2019s a difficult situation for professional golf right now,\u201d Watson said. "The players really kind of have control, I think, in a sense. What do they want to do? We\u2019ll see where it goes. We don\u2019t have the information or the answers. I don\u2019t think the PGA Tour or the LIV tour really have an answer right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think in this room, I know the three of us want to get together,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to get together like we were at that (Masters) Champions Dinner \u2014 happy, the best players playing against each other. That\u2019s what we want in professional golf. And right now, we don\u2019t have it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tom Watson only saw unity, conversation and easy laughter among 33 champions at the Masters Club dinner, seven of them now with Saudi-funded LIV Golf. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":383853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=383851"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":383855,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383851\/revisions\/383855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/383853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=383851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=383851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=383851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}