Tiger Woods admits Champions' Dinner at Masters may be tense affair with LIV players

Tiger Woods says he doesn’t know how he’s going to feel being in the same room as LIV Golf players for the first time at the Champions’ Dinner for the Masters in April.

Tiger Woods, the defending champion, congratulates Phil Mickelson after his win in the 2006 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

A decision by Augusta National to invite all the players eligible under their current criteria means that previous champions such as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson and Charl Schwartzel will all be in attendance.

“That's a great question because I don't know because I haven't been around them,” said Woods, speaking ahead of his apperance in the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles this week, in reply to being asked what his demeanour was likely to be around the players who joined the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit and are now banned from the PGA Tour.

“Some of the players out here have. For instance, Rory's in Dubai with some of those players. I don't know, I don't know what that reaction's going to be. I know that some of our friendships have certainly taken a different path, but we'll see when all that transpires. That is still a couple months away.”

Does he anticipate the Champions Dinner being uncomfortable? “The Champions Dinner is going to be obviously something that's talked about,” added the five-time Masters champion. “We as a whole need to honor Scottie [Scheffler]; it's his dinner.

“So making sure that Scottie gets honoured correctly but also realising the nature of what has transpired and the people that have left, just where our situations are either legally, emotionally, there's a lot there.”