Rory McIlroy's menu for the Masters taps into Northern Ireland, New York and the Augusta wine cellar
Rory McIlroy has put together a menu for the Masters Club dinner nearly as dramatic as the back nine he played at Augusta National to win the green jacket . There's a taste of home in Northern Ireland with his mother's bacon-wrapped dates as an appetizer and Irish Champ as a side dish. He stayed local with crispy Vidalia onion rings that come from a 20-county region in southeastern Georgia.
There's also a Georgia peach and ricotta flatbread. And no, that isn't just any yellowfin tuna carpaccio as the first course. The staff from Augusta National flew to his favorite restaurant in New York, Le Bernardin, to meet with the chef so they could prepare the dish just the way McIlroy likes it.
There are 12 items on the menu from appetizers to dessert, and then four labels from Augusta National's fabled wine cellar. By the look of it, McIlroy had been planning this over the 17 years he spent trying to win the Masters, which culminated in a thriller last year that gave him the career Grand Slam . “I think it would be pretty presumptuous to have a menu in your head before you actually win the tournament,” McIlroy said in a conference call Wednesday.
“But I always thought about if I win the Masters one day, what would I want it to look like? What would I like to serve? ” The defending champion is host of the Masters Club — also known as the “Champions Dinner” — a tradition that dates to 1952.
The dinner is only for Masters champions. The club chairman, Fred Ridley, is an honorary member. It is held every Tuesday evening during Masters week.