Tiger Woods won’t be in attendance for the customary Masters Champions Dinner hosted by Rory McIlroy
Tiger Woods previously revealed his take on the Masters dinner(Image: YouTube/Golf Channel)
Tiger Woods’ status as a five-time Masters champion has helped the golf icon carve out a special spot when it comes to the famous tournament dinners. The annual tradition is usually held two days before the major begins at the Augusta National Golf Club.
This year’s edition is the 90th of the historic event, with defending champion Rory McIlroy taking on the responsibility of hosting for previous winners. With the dinner comes the politics of the seating arrangement, which has attracted much attention over the years.
Woods – who announced his intention to step away from golf amid his car crash – has become well accustomed to it given his five prior victories at Augusta across his glittering career. In 2018, he opened up about his first time at the dinner as he revealed: “I just sat next to Freddie (Couples).”
While confirming there are no official instructions on where you can sit, it’s obvious there are particular areas where certain people will congregate, admitting he has a special place where only he sits.
The 15-time major champion added: “And certain people sit in certain parts of the room, and that’s the way it’s been since the 60s and before that. I have my spot.” However, that spot will remain empty this year, with Woods missing the Masters entirely following his high-profile arrest.
READ MORE: Three Masters champions set to miss Augusta including golf legend ‘struggling to walk’READ MORE: Scottie Scheffler rival’s reply to ‘sit at another table’ Masters Champions Dinner comment
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There are plenty of unwritten rules, with both Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth agreeing they won’t sit by Woods and Jack Nicklaus – who are situated in the same area at the dinner. Recently explaining his thinking during a press conference at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, world No. 1 Scheffler said: “Zach [Woods] and Jordan [Spieth] always sat next to each other, and I definitely didn’t ask Jordan to sit by him, because he would have done something to make sure that I didn’t have a place to sit.
“So I kind of looked at Zach, I was like, ‘Hey, where are you sitting this year?’ And he told me, and he was nice and let me join him. But I definitely wasn’t going to ask Jordan for that because he would have messed with me.”
The Masters Dinner takes place each year(Image: The Masters)
When asked about the presence of any protocol, the two-time Masters winner confirmed: “There’s a little protocol. Guys have, like, I would say, sections where they sit. But you move around a little bit. There are no necessarily assigned seats, but I’m definitely not going to sit in the area where Tiger and Jack sit.
“Like, there are kinds of spots where you feel you’ll naturally flow into. It’s always fun for me to get to see some of the champions that I don’t get to see regularly, so it’s always really fun just catching up with those guys, seeing what they’re like, kind of seeing what makes them tick, little stuff like that is always really fun.”
Spieth – who won the tournament in 2015 – also opened up on the unofficial seating rule during the dinner, explaining: “It’s kind of like 6th, 7th grade. If the teacher they have assigned seats you get all bummed, and if they let you sit wherever you want you end up sitting in the same spot anyways.
Woods will be absent from Augusta next week(Image: James Gilbert/TGL, TGL Golf via Getty Images)
“It’s kind of the same deal. Sit with Scottie, but then when Scottie wins, you know, he’s done that twice in the last three or four or so, there’s a certain section on the far side from where we sit where you don’t sit, because it’s Jack and Tiger. And that’s where Arnie [Palmer] was.”
Woods’ announcement to step away from golf came after his arrest and charge of driving under the influence earlier this week after clipping a track and rolling his car. Taking to X to talk about the incident for the first time, the golf icon wrote: “I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today.
“I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritise my wellbeing and work toward lasting recovery.”
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Coverage of The Masters gets underway on April 6 and golf fans can watch it live with Sky’s Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle. This includes 135 channels, nine from Sky Sports, plus HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu.