With so much of the early part of the season framed around what it could mean for The Masters, golf fans will eat up absolutely anything to do with Augusta National before the first major of the year arrives – including the announcement of the menu for the Champions Dinner each year.
There is slightly less intrigue going into The Masters this year, with Scottie Scheffler hosting the Champions Dinner for the second time following his victory in 2024.
Scheffler showcased his humour by including ravioli on his menu. Of course, it was while making the dish at Christmas that the world number one cut his hand severely enough to rule him out of The Sentry and The American Express at the start of the season.
But it would be no surprise if the task of selecting a menu was still quite daunting for Scheffler.
Sir Nick Faldo names the player who oversaw a ‘horrendous’ Champions Dinner ahead of The Masters
The Champions Dinner brings together most of the greatest names to have ever played the game at one of the most iconic golf courses in the world.
And it seems that some of the previous champions are extremely difficult to please at times. Speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, Sir Nick Faldo noted that his first menu was only warmly received by a handful of players.
Meanwhile, he went on to explain why Bubba Watson served up the worst Champions Dinner he has seen.
“No, the first one I did was steak and kidney pie and they smelt the kidney, and that did not go down well. It was only about three or four of us who had that one. I deem my fish and chips, because I flew over Harry Ramsden cod fillets, chips, mushy peas, Sarson’s vinegar, I deem that as one of the top three,” he said.
“The hilarious bit, the waiter comes round and he goes, ‘do you want these, what are these?’ I said, ‘they’re mushy peas’. He said, ‘mushy what?’ But I deem that was really good.
“We’ve had some very good ones. Rahmbo was very good. Vijay started a great trend when he had Thai friends in a restaurant, and so he started all the canapés on the front balcony to start the evening. They do crab legs and ham and sushi. You actually get stuffed before you get started, and we go in and do our official photograph. Then you run to your spots and then we eat. It’s the coolest thing, it’s just champions and the chairman, that’s it.”
“Chuck E. Cheese we called it. Yeah, we had a little bit of chicken, some corn and ice cream sundae, it was horrendous,” he said of Watson’s menu when asked about the worst dinner.
The even more exclusive club Faldo is a part of at Augusta National
Of course, the Champions Dinner feels like one of the most exclusive clubs in all of golf. It is a travesty that the likes of Lee Trevino, Greg Norman, Ernie Els and Rory McIlroy are not involved each year.
But Faldo is part of an even more exclusive club than that. The Englishman is one of only three players to have ever retained his Masters title, having won in both 1989 and 1990 – before securing a third green jacket in 1996.
That places Faldo only alongside Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win The Masters in successive years.
But it would not be a shock to see one player join their group this month, with Scheffler going after his third title in four years.
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