AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | Augusta National Golf Club, it has been observed, is organized around traditions rather than rules.
Some of these traditions are well known, such as the awarding of the green jacket to the Masters winner, or the Champions Dinner that takes place each Tuesday night before the tournament. Some are relatively new, such as the Drive, Chip and Putt event for kids or the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which quickly has become the second-most important amateur championship in the world for women.
One tradition that flies under the radar is the invitation extended to past men’s major champions who did not win the Masters to be onsite and enjoy the week’s festivities. This list includes the likes of Tom Lehman, John Daly and current LIV player Graeme McDowell.
The list does not include two-time Open Championship winner Greg Norman, whose current job is serving as the CEO of LIV Golf. But that lack of an invitation did not stop golf’s great pariah from showing up at the Masters last week.
“I’m here because we have 13 players that won 10 Masters between them,” he told The Washington Post’s Rick Maese. “So, I’m here just to support them, do the best I can to show them, ‘Hey, you know, the boss is here rooting for you.’”
In showing up at a place where he clearly is not welcome, Norman displayed not an ounce of self-awareness.
But he was not alone.
Consider Jon Rahm, the 2023 Masters champion, who professed his “fealty to the PGA Tour” in February 2022, changed his mind and defected to LIV in late 2023. Rahm was selected by the Golf Writers Association of America as its 2023 Player of the Year. Traditionally, the award winner shows up at the annual dinner held in Augusta on Wednesday night to accept the award and thank the assembled journalists for the recognition. In his prime, Tiger Woods regularly attended the dinner, although he generally got the award at the beginning of the affair and quietly checked out early. At least he cared enough to show up.
Rahm? Not so much.
Here is a guy who badly needs some positive press but couldn’t even make a brief appearance before the world’s golf writers, despite every accommodation imaginable having been offered. In fact, he wouldn’t even shoot a short video to say thanks, similar to what the top female player, the LPGA’s Lilia Vu, did. Rahm simply blew off the organization altogether.
Good luck seeking positive notices after that dismissive gesture.
“ ... I want to be competing – every week, with all of the best players in the world, for sure. … And it needs to happen fast. It’s not a two-year thing. Like, it needs to happen quicker rather than later, just for the good of the sport.”
BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU
The winning episode in the lack of self-awareness, however, took place one week before the Masters. Bryson DeChambeau, talking about a possible unification of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, said: “The only answer is for us to somehow come together in some sort of terms where it makes sense and for us to be playing all again in somewhat of the same boat. It’s great to have the majors where we come together, but we want to be competing – at least I want to be competing – every week, with all of the best players in the world, for sure. … And it needs to happen fast. It's not a two-year thing. Like, it needs to happen quicker rather than later, just for the good of the sport.”
Let me translate that for you: Somebody (presumably the PGA Tour) has to fix the problem I (and others) created due to our greed. And that somebody has to do it quickly because, while I am exempt for the U.S. Open through 2030, my exemption for the other three majors runs out after 2025.
Remember that DeChambeau didn’t just decamp from the PGA Tour. He was a part of the original lawsuit against the tour. Now he wants to be forgiven and come back as if we all forgot what happened.
Spare me the “good of the sport” rhetoric. It’s like the LIV talking point about “growing the game”: the words ring very hollow. If DeChambeau really cared for the good of the sport, he would not have ditched the PGA Tour for LIV, and he would not have sued the PGA Tour.
Lack of self-awareness seems to be part of the connective tissue for the LIV crowd. It starts from the top.
E-MAIL JIM
Top: LIV's Bryson DeChambeau at the Masters
Simon bruty, augusta national golf club