Patrick Reed hits a tee shot earlier this month throughout a apply spherical for the Saudi Worldwide.

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Patrick Reed says this 12 months’s Masters Champions Dinner can have “nothing to do with the place somebody’s taking part in.”

In an interview with Golf Digest — which you’ll be able to and may learn right here in full right here — Reed doused the thought that there may very well be pressure on the annual occasion, which is held the Tuesday earlier than the event. Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, together with 5 different earlier winners of the occasion, now play with LIV Golf, and the dinner at Augusta Nationwide, as a minimum, will mark an in depth encounter with gamers who’ve been outspoken towards the Saudi-backed sequence, most notably Tiger Woods. 

However at some point forward of LIV’s first occasion of the 12 months, Reed advised Golf Digest on Thursday that the dinner will proceed to give attention to the most-recent winner, who, on this case, is Scottie Scheffler. 

LIV pressure at Masters Champions Dinner? Tiger Woods weighs in  
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Alan Bastable

“The factor is, the Champions Dinner has nothing to do with myself or every other particular person in that room aside from Scottie Scheffler,” Reed advised Golf Digest. “That’s his dinner. My experiences throughout these dinners have been wonderful. We’re all the time speaking about previous experiences at Augusta, how the opposite guys have gained the [Masters], what obstacles they needed to overcome, the pictures they pulled off of their experiences.

“Figuring out the blokes out right here on LIV and likewise a few of the older guys … that night time and that dinner is all about Scottie and has nothing to do with the place somebody’s taking part in, what occurred per week in the past, what’s occurring going ahead. It’s all about that occasion]. It’s actually Scottie’s night time and that’s the way it’s all the time going to be.”

Reed’s feedback come after each Woods and Scheffler had been requested ultimately week’s Genesis Invitational to weigh in on the topic — and after two earlier Masters winners on the LIV sequence additionally shared their ideas. 

Woods was requested if he anticipated the dinner being “uncomfortable.” The 15-time main champion has been one of many extra outspoken critics of LIV, which has signed a number of PGA Tour gamers to multiyear contracts over the previous 12 months.

“The Champions Dinner goes to be clearly one thing that’s talked about,” he stated. “We as an entire must honor Scottie, Scottie’s the winner, it’s his dinner. So ensuring that Scottie will get honored appropriately but in addition realizing the character of what has transpired and the folks that have left, simply the place our conditions are both legally, emotionally, there’s loads there.”

And Scheffler? On the Genesis, he had this trade with a reporter:

“Scottie, you’re going to have to decide on a dinner that’s going to appease everyone on the Champions Dinner,” the reporter began. “I don’t suppose everyone seems to be anticipating a really gentle temper that night time. Are you fascinated by mainly what you’ll say to these guys when there’s going to be a bunch of LIV guys in attendance?”

Scottie Scheffler ‘clueless’ about Masters Champions Dinner protocol
By:

Kevin Cunningham

“Yeah, I haven’t seemed that far forward,” Scheffler stated. “I undoubtedly, I don’t know precisely what you’re speculated to say that night time. I haven’t actually gotten an excessive amount of information. I’ve received to speak to some of the blokes and work out what really goes on that night time as a result of I’m nonetheless type of clueless. I’m hoping that it is going to be a enjoyable night time. Gathering all these guys collectively in a room, I imply, it ought to be loads of enjoyable. It’s a historic group of individuals, Masters champions, and I’m positive that we’ll all put our private opinions apart and simply have a great night time and simply type of take pleasure in what the night time actually is.”

Three weeks in the past, on the Saudi Worldwide, Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson had been additionally requested about any potential battle. They. together with Reed, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel, are Masters winners taking part in for LIV and can, presumably, be on the dinner. 

Johnson anticipated peace, telling Irish Golfer that “if there are any guys saying there could also be pressure, it has nothing to do with just a few of us taking part in LIV in comparison with competing on the PGA Tour, as that pressure was already there.” Watson, in the meantime, took a lighter tone, after Scheffler earlier this 12 months jokingly stated he would put Watson at “a separate desk.” 

“Hey, so long as I’m within the Champions Dinner, I’m high-quality,” Watson stated. “I’ll sit wherever he tells me. It’s high-quality. So long as I’m allowed again, I’ll sit wherever he needs me to. I’ll sit exterior and simply stare within the window.”

Editor’s observe: To learn Golf Digest’s full interview with Reed — which incorporates his ideas on Rory McIlroy — please click on right here.

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Nick Piastowski
Patacon.org Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Patacon.org and Golf Journal. In his position, he’s liable for modifying, writing and creating tales throughout the golf area. And when he’s not writing about methods to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native might be taking part in the sport, hitting the ball left, proper and quick, and consuming a chilly beer to scrub away his rating. You’ll be able to attain out to him about any of those matters — his tales, his sport or his beers — at [email protected]