Inside the Masters Champions Dinner: secrets, stories and traditions

If you were to explain to a non-golfer why so many of us are fascinated by the Champions Dinner, then you would likely get some quizzical looks.

A collection of former winners gather at Augusta National two days before the tournament starts to drink cocktails, generally eat steak, listen to a few speeches and swap stories.

But, as a golfer and you were allowed in one room, then most of us would choose here. This year Rory McIlroy will be the host so he will speak to the room, choose the menu and pick up the tab.

It’s a curious part of Masters week but it’s a brilliant addition to the golfing year.

1. The Chairman, Fred Ridley, is the only person in the room who hasn’t won the Masters. There are no assigned seats though everyone will routinely sit in the same spot.

The Chairman and Ben Crenshaw, who oversees the evening, are seated on the top table with the defending champion/host in between them.

2. The invitation states that there will be cocktails at 6.30pm before dinner at 7pm but most will arrive earlier to make the most of the evening. At 7 the club manager will call everyone through and there will then be a group photo, that we are now privy to these days, before the dinner begins.

Around 8pm Crenshaw will say a few words and perhaps note a few anniversaries eg this year it will be 40 years since Jack Nicklaus’ sixth and final Green Jacket before Ridley will add a few words and then it’s over to the champion.

3. Following that it’s open house. We often hear how Fred Couples is brilliant at cajoles the older members to share their favourite stories and Sam Snead was said to be an incredible, if completely inappropriate, storyteller.

4. Craig Stadler was a recent guest on the No Laying Up podcast and he explained that he always sits on the window/deck side of the room with the seating order looking like Tommy Aaron, Ray Floyd, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Stadler and then Mark O’Meara.

Elsewhere the Spaniards sit together, Zach Johnson is next to Jordan Spieth and in the region of Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed and old-timers Larry Mize and Bernhard Langer. Danny Willett revealed that he sits next to Reed while Adam Scott, Immelman, Nick Faldo and Gary Player are also seated together.

5. Historically there were three options on the menu; beef, chicken or fish. Bernhard Langer then hosted in 1986 and he was told that he could choose the menu so he went with wedding soup, sauerbraten with spätzle, red cabbage and Black Forest cake.

6. This year’s dinner is set to cost McIlroy five figures supposedly. He’s gone big on the wine options and Immelman has revealed that he and others will order something very pricey to nudge the final bill up at the end of the evening.

7. Sir Nick Faldo has gone on record as saying that Bubba Watson’s was the worst offering and, to make it worse, he put on the same menu in 2013 and 201 – Caesar salad, chicken breast, green beans, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, corn, confetti cake and vanilla ice cream.

“We had a little hamburger and our little corn and our little ice cream … we had a milkshake as well. So yeah, that was a lot.” He added that it was similar to a Happy Meal.

Vijay Singh and Hideki Matsuyama have often been mentioned as serving up something very special.

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