Find the best pocket square you can and stretch your little finger for this year’s Masters Championship Dinner. Well, only if you own a green jacket. Extremely unique meal with the menu do most recent green jacket winnerHideki Matsuyama, is one of the most expensive proteins in the world. The 30-year-old Masters 2021 champion is paying tribute to his native Japan through a lavish four-course tournament, most notably Miyazaki Wagyu.
Matsuyama’s addition to dinner elevates the game as the ingredients are catered to an elite group of golfers. He planned that the Masters tournament winners would eat Japan’s top brand Wagyu, a beef known for its its snowflake-like marble veins. Miyazaki Wagyu can cost over $100/ounce. The ribeye will be served at Tuesday night’s gala with a mix of mushrooms, vegetables, and sansho daikon ponzu, whatever that delicious-sounding combination of random words represents.
The menu of the annual dinner reflects the regional and national peculiarities of previous Masters winners. Last year’s Masters Champions Dinner featured a menu chosen by Dustin Johnson, a native of South Carolina, with dishes like peaches and pigs in blankets. Other dishes of note include 2017 winner Sergio Garcia’s choice of arroz caldoso de bogavante, a Spanish rice and seafood dish. Sandy Lyle, the 1988 Masters champion, chose haggis for her menu. Charl Schwartzel’s 2011 victory saw monkey gland sauce served a year later.
Dinner came into the spotlight for reasons unrelated to food in 1997, when Fuzzy Zoeller, the 1979 Masters winner, looked ahead. Tiger Woods’ First Dinner, the first African-American Masters champion, and said, “What are you going to do when he comes in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year? Got it.” Zoeller then almost ended the interview with a smile, snapped his fingers, and walked away, before continuing “or cut up the greens or whatever they serve.”
G/O Media may receive a commission
Stay on top of your health with high and low heart rate, and irregular heart rhythm notifications.
Track your daily activity on Apple Watch, and see your trends.
Zoeller lost sponsorships from K-Mart and Dunlop because of his remarks, apologizing to Woods afterwards. The 1998 dinner featured cheeseburgers, grilled chicken sandwiches, french fries and milkshakes. Woods’ five menus have never included fried chicken and collard greens. They have been chosen by Mike Weir and José María Olazábal respectively.
The rest of Matsuyama’s menu includes sushi, chicken skewers, miso-glazed black cod and Japanese strawberry shortcake. Ben Hogan, who won the 1951 and 1953 Masters events, founded the dinner in 1952 for all champions as well as Augusta National Golf Club’s founders.
