The Augusta Masters, one of the greats of this sport, arrives this week, and it is the Champions Dinner that is celebrated today that takes the headlines. It will be the first time that the PGA players with whom they have gone to the Saudi circuit, the LIV, meet. And while some golfers downplay dinner interaction, others say disagreements are impossible to ignore.
At the table will be seated the 57-year-old José María Olazabal from Hondarribiarra, twice winner of the green jacket (1994 and 1999), and who on Thursday will play the tournament for the thirty-fourth time with the aim of making the cut. «Every one of us who sat at the Dinner of Champions is in the room that night for having won at Augusta National. I respect each and everyone in the room for being fellow Masters winners, and also for what they have achieved in their careers,” says Olazabal.
Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel are the LIV golfers and Masters winners who will join their PGA counterparts for dinner on the menu served by late winner Scottie Scheffler: cheeseburger, shrimp, tortilla and redfish soup or rib eye steak. And for dessert, chocolate chip cookies and ice cream.
Jon Rahm will not be at this dinner because he is not the winner of the chatqueta but he appears as one of the favorites. Until a month ago his year was being ‘Tigeresco’, with four victories in eight starts, in March he lowered his tone, but retains his favorite status.