8 random observations from the 2025 Masters Champions Dinner photo

The annual Masters Champions Dinner is one of the most sacred evenings in golf. Each Tuesday before the Masters, the tournament’s living champions gather to honor not only each other, but those that came before them with a meal curated by the previous year’s winner. There are tall tales, there are laughs, there is wine … lots and lots of wine. But much like dessert, no great meal is complete without an awkward group photo, and the MCD (can we call it that?) delivered once again with a snapshot for the ages.

The 2025 Champions Dinner. #themasters pic.twitter.com/9S0ces0101

— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 9, 2025

Like each Masters Champions Dinner photo before it, this year’s portrait tells a bevy of stories all its own. Some big, some small and some just downright silly. Here are the eight that that piqued our interest the most in 2025.

No Tiger

Let’s address the elephant big cat in the room: Tiger Woods, the second winningest Masters champion of all time, was not in attendance on Tuesday due to his recent Achilles tear. 1971 Masters winner Charles Coody told Golfweek that he heard Woods “still can’t put weight on his foot” and that “his weight tolerance just isn’t there to climb those stairs.” That’s not exactly what Tiger fans will want to hear, but he wasn’t the only former champ to miss out through injury, as Vijay Singh, who withdrew from the tournament on Monday with an unspecified issue, was also absent.

Phil and Freddie bury the hatchet … in each other’s backs?

In a move straight out of the exhausted mom playbook, frenemies Phil Mickelson and Fred Couples were placed next to each other, front and center for the whole world to see. Last month, Mickelson called Couples a “low-class jerk” in response to Couples’ comments about Brooks Koepka allegedly wanting to return to the PGA Tour.

“If it’s not true, he [Couples] damaged a relationship which he cares about,” Mickelson tweeted before quickly deleting. “If it is true, then he took away Brooks’ control of the timeline and narrative. Either way this is a low-class jerk move by Fred.”

Does Tuesday’s chummy photo prove the two have buried the hatchet? Or were they forced to make nice by their parents like two feuding cousins at Thanksgiving dinner? Neither of these guys are shy about speaking their minds, so something tells us we won’t have to wait long to find out.

RELATED: Scottie Scheffler shares why he had to apologize for his first Masters Champions Dinner

Angel Cabrera gets a seat at the table

Scottie Scheffler wasn’t the only former Masters champion returning to the dinner table after a stint in the clink this year. That list also included 2009 champion Angel Cabrera, who spent over two years in Argentinian prison for serious domestic abuse charges, including assault, theft and illegal intimidation. Some have questioned whether Cabrera should be allowed back at Augusta National at all, let alone have a seat at the Champions’ Dinner table, but Tuesday night made it clear that the club believe he has served his time and settled his debt to society.

Faldo remains an absolute unit

When you think about golfers that fit the traditional “athlete” mold, Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson immediately come to mind. Both have the rare combination of size and skill to convince us couch warriors they could compete in just about any sport on earth. Yet somehow in this photo, 67-year-old Nick Faldo makes both look like JV slot receivers. Faldo is known for plenty—his incredible Masters sweaters and spoiler-laden years spent in the broadcast booth, for starters—but oddly his size isn’t talked about much. At 6’ 3” and 195 pounds, Faldo was one of the biggest, most powerful players of his generation, paving the way for the likes of DeChambeau, Rahm and even up-and-coming stars like 6’ 8” Christo Lamprecht. You may not have noticed it before, but after this year’s Champions Dinner photo, which looks like one of those “for every retweet I get, I’ll make Faldo’s head bigger” memes, you’ll never unsee it.

Ian Woosnam … not so much

On the opposite end of the size spectrum is Ian Woosnam (far left, second row), who looked like he should be quarreling with Gollum over a ring instead of standing around a dinner table in a green sport coat on Tuesday. Many golf fans were blown away by seeing Woosnam’s 5’ 4” frame in context, but if anything, their surprise was a compliment. Winning the Masters is nearly impossible on its own. To do so while standing a full half-foot shorter than Nelly Korda is almost unthinkable. Was Woosie golf’s version of Tyreek Hill and we didn’t even realize it? Some are saying it …

RELATED: Imagining Masters Champions Dinner table etiquette

Party in the front, LIV in the back

Apart from Phil Mickelson, whose play at Augusta National through the years has earned him a first-class seat, LIV Golf’s former champs were relegated to the back row this year. Sergio Garcia is practically on his tip toes, Charl Schwartzel is half obscured by Danny freaking Willett and they made Bubba stand next to guy who once likened his Masters Champions Dinners to “Chuck E. Cheese.” The Masters extended another invitation to Joaquin Niemann this year, but if this photo is any indication, their hospitality for the PGA Tour ex-pats only goes so far.

Tom Watson, sneaky drip king?

A quick shout to low-key fit god Tom Watson, who paired his green jacket with a next-level yellow shirt/pink tie combo on Tuesday. Get this man on Malbon like yesterday.

A subdued send-off

Make no mistake, the 2025 Masters Champions Dinner was about Scottie Scheffler, who will begin his campaign for a green jacket hat trick this week. If Tuesday could have been about anyone else, however, it would have been about Bernhard Langer, who is poised to play his final Masters this week. According to reports, though, Langer wasn’t given the opportunity to speak at the dinner and was placed noticeably off to the side in the group photo. Who knows the reasoning—perhaps Langer demurred out of respect for Scheffler—but we expected a bigger send off for the two-time winner and most decorated senior golfer of all time. Something or nothing? You decide.