The honorary first drive wasn’t the only shot Tom Watson played on the first morning of the 2026 Masters. Moments after taking part in the ceremony Watson, who won eight majors, lambasted the PGA Tour over its recent decision to allow Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed to return from LIV Golf.
Watson said by reinstating Reed and Koepka the Tour had reneged on the promises they made to the players who had remained loyal to them during the schism. “I thought the LIV players, when they left, were supposed to be banned for life,” he said.
Watson said that if he were running things, Reed, Koepka and anyone else who wants to return would have to qualify through playing on the Korn Ferry Tour. “If I was the commissioner, that’s what I’d do.” Koepka made his return to the PGA Tour after four years with LIV at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. Reed is due to rejoin next year.
“When the players left, they violated the No 1 rule that we really had out here, which is to protect the sponsors. Sponsors need players. They need the names to be able to promote their tournaments,” Watson said. “When the players left for LIV, I think it was basically over. They chose to go for the money, which is fine, but to return to the Tour, I thought, was a nonstarter, but apparently it’s not.”
Reed said this week: “I’m really excited obviously to come back to the PGA Tour. I’ve always known, that when you look at it, the best players in the world and the deepest fields from top to bottom are on the PGA Tour.” He described it as a family decision. “I really enjoyed all my time over there at LIV. It was a blast,” he said. But “to be honest with you, it was one of those decisions that I felt like was the best, not just for the golf game, but also for my family to spend more time with them.”
Watson’s fellow honorary starter, Gary Player, used the press conference to explain that he felt Tiger Woods should be banned from driving after his recent car crash. “He’s in pain. Do I blame him for taking medicine? Hell, no. He has sleep deprivation. Do I blame him for taking something to help him sleep? No,” Player said.
“But I don’t think he should drive a car. When you’re taking that medicine, it’s dangerous when you’re driving a car, same as it’s dangerous when you look at your cell phone in the car. There’s 6,000 accidents a day in motor cars. So I think all he’s got to do is just not drive a car and get a chauffeur.”
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