Fred Couples makes his 38th Masters appearance this week and he may have a little awkwardness after recent public comments calling fellow Masters champions Phil Mickelson a "nutbag" and Sergio Garcia a "clown."
Couples has downplayed the insults, saying they're nothing that he hasn't called himself before, and is expecting a great evening at Tuesday's Champions Dinner. Despite saying that LIV Golf and its players don't bother him, the 1992 Masters champion has reiterated that it's the bashing of the PGA Tour that gets on his nerves.
"You know, I'm not expecting anything different," Couples said of the Champions Dinner. "I sit in a great spot, so I'm down by all the beautiful people that I've sat with, and it's not that the other ones aren't, but I'm saying Nicklaus, Tiger, Floyd, myself, Sandy Lyle, and then right to the head of the table.
"So for 20 years almost Raymond has told me where to sit and how to do it, and I'm not near a whole lot of people.
"I've made comments, but they need to understand if they've looked at anything I've ever said, I call myself the same stuff I'm calling them, I just don't think they should bash the PGA Tour or anybody, just go play golf.
"Tomorrow night will be a great dinner, will be a lot of fun, and people have asked me are you going to get paired, I'm like, I would love to be paired with Phil. I mean, he's one of the best players that ever played. He loves this place as much as I do, and if we did, we'd look at each other on the first hole and we'd have a good time."
Both Garcia and Mickelson will be at the Champions Dinner where Couples should get the chance to speak to both of them for the first time since his public comments hit the headlines.
"If one wants to stop and ask why I'm picking on them, then I'm all for it, but I don't really think I've done anything horrific," he said. "They're making comments and I'm replying to them. That's it."
The former World No.1, who will look to make the cut at Augusta National for the first time since 2018 this week, thinks that The Masters made the correct decision in allowing LIV players - of which there are 18 in the field this week - to compete.
"Was I in agreement with that? Yeah, I think they deserve to be here, the ones that have won and other - I don't know how many that didn't win have qualified from either prior tournaments or from the Money List, and Bryson has won a Major. Yeah, they should be here," he said.
"Once again, I'll say this, and I'll probably say it tomorrow, I do a radio show, I have no problem with any of them, just please do not bash a Tour that I have 43 years invested in. It bothers the hell out of me.
"They don't bother me. They really don't. They're golfers. I'm a golfer. I respect them all. On my show I've told everyone, Sergio is one of the top 10 players I've ever seen hit a ball, but if he's going to make comments about the Tour that I play, I'm going to make a comment back, and if it's offensive I apologize, but they're on another tour. Go play and have a good time.
"Brooks Koepka I love, Dustin Johnson absolutely love. I'm not good enough to be paired with those guys. They're going to play with those who are probably going to win this thing. But I have no problem with anyone on the LIV Tour. I really don't."
TIGER WOODS HIT IT "really, really well"
Couples said his playing partner Woods hit it "really, really well" and thinks that he'll be fine this week - with the undulating Augusta National set to offer him a physical test little over two years after his near-career-ending car accident.
"How he hit it, he hit it really, really well. He pulled a couple drives. But last year we played, he never missed a shot. I've never seen anything like it," Couples said.
"For him, he's just out there just trying to walk around and play. Physically? You know, I don't really ask him a lot. I think that's not something when I text him or talk to him, really what our conversations are about.
"I think when he tells you I'm only going to play four events and Augusta is one of them, he's ready to go, it's probably not going to be easy. But I think he'll be fine."
