FRED COUPLES

Few events carry more intrigue than the most exclusive gathering of champions.

The Masters Club is the formal name of the annual dinner Tuesday night at Augusta National during the Masters in April, and the guest list is restricted to Masters champions and Chairman Fred Ridley. Scottie Scheffler is in charge of the menu as the reigning champion, and one moment last year illustrates how this might be a dinner unlike any other. Scheffler and his wife took a short vacation to Tennessee, walked into a restaurant and were surprised to see Bubba Watson and his wife sitting at one of the tables.

He's a sports agent.

Shanshan Feng was planning to retire after 10 years of professional golf.

The World Golf Hall of Fame is leaving Florida and returning to North Carolina.

LIV Golf’s first U.S. event was set to begin Thursday, with a group of survivors and families who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 terror attacks planning to gather at a nearby park to speak out against the Saudi Arabia-funded tour.

Kirk Triplett shot a 9-under 63 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead over Jerry Kelly, Ken Tanigawa and Brett Quigley after the first round of the PGA Tour Champions’ Principal Charity Classic.

The “ManningCast” so popular on “Monday Night Football” is coming to major championship golf.

Steve Stricker is back to golf after six months and it looked as though he was never gone.

Scottie Scheffler is the hottest player in golf who never thinks beyond the next shot.

Ted Scott was retiring last fall.

Scottie Scheffler is one round away from winning his first major at the Masters.

Golf has a bright future and isn't quite ready to let go of Tiger Woods.

If the motivations for Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas this week at the Masters are similar it shouldn’t come as much surprise.

This Masters is all about Tiger Woods to start the week.

The PGA Tour is moving the Farmers Insurance Open off a big NFL Sunday.

Phil Mickelson is returning for his 13th consecutive Ryder Cup, this time without his clubs.

Phil Mickelson doesn’t need to be reminded of his age at the PGA Championship.

Don't expect a repeat of Dustin Johnson's record-shattering 20-under win as the Masters tees off.

No one needed to see the colorful blooms at Augusta National to realize this will be a much different Masters than the last one.

The PGA Tour has selected Love to be U.S. captain for the Presidents Cup in 2022 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was captain when Europe rallied from a 10-6 deficit to beat the Americans in the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah, and he was Ryder Cup captain for a rare U.S. victory four years later at Hazeltine. He also was an assistant captain in the Ryder Cup under Corey Pavin in 2010 and Jim Furyk in 2018 and is on the staff of Steve Stricker this year. The Presidents Cup was supposed to be played this year until the COVID-19 pandemic led to the Ryder Cup being postponed one year to this September. ... Tony Finau has 35 finishes in the top 10 since the start of the 2016-17 season on the PGA Tour without winning.

Johnson grew up about an hour away in South Carolina, and the Masters is the one major every Southern kid dreams about winning. Johnson already had become owner of a label not talked about enough: The best player to have only one major. He went from a 12-foot eagle putt for the win to a three-putt par to finish one shot behind. And then he delivered the key shot, an 8-iron down the slope to a pin tucked on the corner shelf. It will be the shortest time any Masters champion gets to keep the green jacket with him.

Langer, a two-time Masters champion and ageless wonder, gets to play two more rounds. He became the oldest player to make the 36-hole cut at the Masters, topping the record by Tommy Aaron in 2000 by 33 days. Tiger Woods constantly cites Langer and Fred Couples as examples of Masters champions who can find their way around the course and post good scores. When golf returned from the pandemic in June, Langer teed it up twice on the PGA Tour because the 50-and-older PGA Tour Champions had not resumed. Langer still decided to check on the policy on Tuesday night during the Masters Club dinner for past champions.

By the time the Masters ends Sunday, fans might still be debating whether that’s good for the game. Earlier in the week, DeChambeau was out on the practice range experimenting with a 48-inch-long driver — right up against golf’s rulebook and nearly two inches longer than most players use. In one memorable episode, the Masters tournament committee shelled out several million dollars to buy a piece of land about the size of four parking spaces from the country club next door to move back the 13th tee. During his practice round with Woods, they began comparing notes. At the 505-yard, par-4 11th, DeChambeau hit a pitching wedge and asked Woods, “What did you hit in ’97?”Woods replied: pitching wedge.

He has everyone curious about whether his bulk and his behemoth tee shots can undress Augusta National. “It's a substantially easier golf course for him than it is for everybody else,” said Justin Thomas, who joined DeChambeau, Woods and Fred Couples for a practice round at the start of the week. More recently, it was the excitement at home in Dallas when one of his drives carried just over 400 yards. “Every day I’m trying to get faster and stronger and I’m trying to hit it as far as possible,” DeChambeau said. Rory McIlroy still believes Augusta National provides the proper test no matter how far DeChambeau or anyone else hits it.

A balky putter cost him any shot at a second U.S. Open title. Unable to get much going from the start, Johnson closed out his tournament with a even-par 70 on Sunday in final round. The 2016 U.S. Open champion opened this year's tournament with a 3-over 73 and never really got on track at Winged Foot. “I felt like I hit a lot of good putts, just none that went in the hole,” Johnson said. Fred Couples (1979), Brad Faxon (’83) and Phil Mickelson (’90, ’91) and are among previous low amateurs at the U.S. Open.

Tirico is one of many announcers who has had to trade the press box for a home office. Tirico will be in the corner of his office in Michigan, some 1,300 miles away. The soft return of golf includes testing for COVID-19, thermal readings, social distancing and limited access. Rich Lerner from Golf Channel is doing play by play, with NBC analysts Paul Azinger and Gary Koch. You could get a lot of people become Matt Wolff fans if he has the game he showed in Minnesota, Tirico said.

Tiger Woods was a senior in high school, six months away from winning his first U.S. Over the next two decades, no one finished runner-up to Woods more than Els, a rivalry as one-sided as the Presidents Cup. The Presidents Cup starts Thursday, and Woods is attracting all the attention as the first playing captain in 25 years. Els, unlike Woods, has no influence on the outcome except for his plan and his leadership. "He told us his plan early on, and he's going 100% on that.