By Michael Davis
LIKE everybody else, I am growing weary of the LIV debate.
You may well ask, so why bring it up here again?
Well, it’s just that with court battles looming around the world and name calling among some of the greatest players to grace our fairways, sanity seems to have prevailed.
And it has come from the organisers of perhaps the most revered golf tournament in the world – the Masters at Augusta National.
Augusta has always run its own race and considers itself behoven to no one. That’s why all eyes were on the Masters Tournament to see if it would ban the LIV defectors otherwise eligible to play in the 2023 event.
And to me at least, the news that they could play arrived like a breath of fresh air.
The upshot is that even though Greg Norman’s LIV Golf League has divided the sport, 17 members of the breakaway tour, including Australia’s Cameron Smith, have been invited to play the 2023 Masters. This can be nothing but good for the game and give everyone pause for thought on the toxic LIV feud.
Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley confirmed the iconic event would keep “current criteria” for 2023 entrants, meaning Smith and former Masters champions Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed, who have joined LIV Golf, can play.
Smith is one of just three Australians currently qualified – including 2013 champion Adam Scott and amateur Harrison Crowe – half the contingent who played in 2022.
Lucas Herbert, Min Woo Lee and Cameron Davis, who all made their Masters debuts in 2022, would need to win their way to Augusta before the entrance cut-off in March.
Smith has recorded three straight top-10 Masters finishes, and was third last year. He was given the green light to play in a statement released by Augusta National in which chairman Fred Ridley, who didn’t mention the Saudi-backed series by name, said he was “disappointed” with how developments had created an ongoing divide, calling it a “seminal point” in golf’s history.
But the Masters wanted to continue to gather the best field qualified to play and so invitations had been sent to eligible LIV players.
“Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it,” Ridley said.
“Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honour the tradition of bringing together the best possible field.”
The move comes after the Royal and Ancient, which runs the Open Championship, allowed LIV golfers to play in 2022, with Smith winning his breakthrough major before he joined Norman’s tour for a reported $140m.
Of 78 players who have qualified for the 2023 Masters, 17 are LIV Golf members including six former Masters champions – Johnson, Reed, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Spaniard Sergio Garcia and South African Charl Schwartzel.
Ridley announced that any golfer who has qualified for the Masters tournament based on its previous criteria will be invited to play in April. Having achieved four top-10 finishes in the last five Masters, tying for second in 2020 and third in 2022, Smith will fancy his chances in Georgia.
Ridley said in part: “From its inception in 1934, the purpose of the Masters Tournament has been to benefit the game of golf. Each April, the Masters assembles the world’s leading golfers to compete for the Green Jacket and a place in history. It provides a stage for fans to experience dramatic moments of competition at the highest level and promotes the sport domestically and abroad.
“Through the years, legends of the game have competed and won at Augusta National Golf Club. Champions like Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have become heroes to golfers of all ages.
“They have inspired some to follow in their footsteps and so many others to play and enjoy the game. They have supported the sport and, thus, all who benefit from it. They have shown respect for those who came before them and blazed a trail for future generations. Golf is better because of them.
“Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it. Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honour the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers this coming April.
“Therefore, as invitations are sent this week, we will invite those eligible under our current criteria to compete in the 2023 Masters Tournament.
“We have reached a seminal point in the history of our sport. At Augusta National, we have faith that golf, which has overcome many challenges through the years, will endure again.”
So in the heat of battle, the powers that be at Augusta have shown poise, class, balance and dignity. All power to them!
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