This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Charles Curtis.
You might be wondering if it’s going to be awkward for LIV golfers heading into the 2023 Masters, where it’s the first time they’ll be playing with PGA Tour vets.
Although it’s hard to predict — you figure everyone will be cordial, no on-course shots will be taken during play, right? — it might just be really icy if the Masters Champions dinner was any indication.
It was that dinner — where “Scottie-style” sliders were served — that Phil Mickelson attended on Tuesday night, and per a quote from champ Fuzzy Zoeller via Golfweek, it was SO AWKWARD for Lefty:
“We’re just 33 past champions in a room, all trying to get along. Nobody said a word about [LIV]. Phil sat near the end of the table and kept to himself. He didn’t speak at all.”
Masters Leaderboard: See the schedule for Masters week
Uh. Yeah. I probably wouldn’t talk in that room filled with golfers who probably weren’t happy about me defecting to a Saudi-backed league that has threatened the PGA Tour.
But that’s how I’m reading what it’ll be like for Lefty, Cameron Smith, and the rest of the LIV crew. Maybe they’ll shake hands after rounds with PGA Tour guys, perhaps they’ll give nods to each other at the driving range (as long as Patrick Reed doesn’t throw a tee at Rory McIlroy again) … but really, it’s going to be the most awkward.
And I am here for it.
Quick Hits: BAAAA! … Manny Machado tossed due to pitch clock argument … Masters picks! … and more.
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— Manny Machado became the first player to be ejected over a pitch clock violation.
— The newest meme? Barbie movie posters. They’re hilarious.
