• There are 88 players in the field for the 87th Masters. They are divided into two groups: 18 of “them” and 70 of “us,” depending on your perspective. It’s a dividing line almost as stark as those with green jackets and those without.
• Those 18 are the defectors who bolted for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit, and they are on trial this week. In golf, it has always mattered who wins the Masters. But it has never mattered where that player competed and whose money he takes. Now, it does.
• “There’s a lot of chatter about, ‘These guys don’t play real golf; these guys don’t play real golf courses,’ ” said Australian Cameron Smith, the winner of last summer’s British Open, the most recent major.

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