Absence of Phil Mickelson not the only change at 86th Masters

As the only major championship to be played at the same venue every year, the Masters naturally lends itself to maintaining cherished traditions.

There is the pre-tournament par-three contest, the white boiler suits worn by the caddies and, of course, the green jacket presented to the champion by last year’s winner.

Yet even Augusta National is not immune to change and the 86th Masters will see plenty, including the absence of Phil Mickelson, the presence of a new world number one and increased yardage on the 11th and 15th holes.

Mickelson is taking a break from golf following the fall-out from his explosive comments about the PGA Tour and a Saudi-backed rival circuit, the three-time Masters champion accusing the PGA Tour of “obnoxious greed” and acting like a “dictatorship”.

The six-time major winner also made it clear he is well aware of the human rights record of Saudi Arabia but was happily aligning himself with them in order to use the threat of a breakaway to “reshape” how the PGA Tour operates.

Whether Mickelson has been banned by the PGA Tour or quietly encouraged by Masters officials not to compete at Augusta may never be made public, but for the 51-year-old to be absent for the first time since 1994 suggests there may be more revelations to come.

While Mickelson was creating history last year by becoming the oldest men’s major champion ever in the US PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler was quietly finishing joint eighth at Kiawah Island, the first of three consecutive major top-10s.

Less than a year later, Scheffler will travel to Augusta as the world number one following a stunning run of three wins in five starts, his first PGA Tour title in Phoenix followed by victories in the prestigious Arnold Palmer