As golf's civil war rages, top PGA Tour and LIV players are all at the Masters

In some ways, golf finds itself at a point in time not unlike pro football in the 1960s, when two rival leagues duked it out but found a path to reconciliation that produced a game far bigger than anyone could've envisioned.

Bryson DeChambeau, for one, is hopeful that the still-smoldering split between the established PGA Tour and upstart LIV Golf could lead to a Super Bowl-like extravaganza that brings everyone together.

"You can look at it like the NFL and you could have NFC-AFC sort of working in their own fields and at the end they come together, put on a huge event at the end of the year," said DeChambeau, who plays on the LIV circuit. "That could be really cool."

If nothing else, major championships such as the Masters, which begins Thursday at Augusta National, provide a brief detente in this civil war of the links.

All the top players — from reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka representing Team LIV to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy teeing it up for the old guard — will be looking to not only claim a green jacket, but score bragging rights for their de facto team.

"Obviously, the more togetherness that you get, the better it is for everyone. There's no doubt about that," said Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Masters winner who bolted for LIV. "But there's room for everyone. I don't think that's a problem at all."

As the host of the Champions Dinner, Jon Rahm embraces the excitement and nerves ahead of an evening with Masters greats. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/themasters?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#themasters</a> <a href="https://t.co/tIlaRv7p71">pic.twitter.com/tIlaRv7p71</a>

Even though LIV appears to have strengthened its hand with its stunning signing of Rahm, who was on