"Pretty sure I ordered off the menu that night” - When LIV Golf star named Bubba Watson's 2015 Masters Champions dinner as 'the worst'
Bubba Watson and Adam Scott are the protagonists of one of the best stories related to the Masters Tournament championship dinner, and not exactly because of how tasty the food was. In fact, Scott claimed that he "ordered off the menu" when Watson was in charge of it.
Adam Scott himself told the story in 2022 to none other than a young player who asked him about it. Here's how the conversation went (via Ben Everill, Golfbet writer):
Junior golfer: "Adam, what was the best Masters champions dinner that wasn’t your own?"
Adam Scott: "Hard to say. I’m looking forward to Hideki’s coming up. I can tell you the worst… Bubba Watson. Pretty sure I ordered off the menu that night."
Bubba Watson served as host of The Masters champions dinner not once, but twice (2013, 2015), as he won in 2012 and 2014. Both times he served the same menu: Caesar salad, chicken breast, green beans, mashed potatoes macaroni and cheese, corn, confetti cake and vanilla ice cream.
What about Adam Scott's dinner? Well, in 2014, the Australian served artichoke & arugula salad with grilled calamari, the main course was called Australian Wagyu New York Strip and the dessert was Strawberry & Passion Fruit Pavlova.
Some popular champion dinners feat. Bubba Watson
The dinner served by Bubba Watson didn't just receive criticism like Adam Scott. Sir Nick Faldo called it a 'Happy Meal' in 2013.
One of the most popular championship dinners so far has been that of Hideki Matsuyama, who in 2022 served an all-Japanese menu with sushi, sashimi, nigiri and yakitori chicken skewers as appetizers. This was followed by miso glazed black cod and miyazaki wagyu, and Japanese strawberry shortcake for dessert.
Another international menu was offered by Angel Cabrera in 2010, when he served Argentine asado. A year later, Phil Mickelson offered a menu based on Spanish paella with machango-topped filet mignon, a salad and apple empanada ice cream for dessert, in honor of Seve Ballesteros, who was fighting cancer at the time.
There has been no shortage of former champions who have kept it simple and eclectic when hosting their dinner. Such was the case with Scottie Scheffler, who in 2022 served cheeseburger sliders, firecracker shrimp, tortilla soup, Texas ribeye steak, Blackened redfish and a warm chocolate chip skillet cookie.
Tiger Woods was in that same vein at most of his five dinners. In 1998, he offered cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches and French fries. In 2002 and 2003, he served porterhouse steak and chicken, while he went with chicken and steak fajitas in 2006 and 2020.
On Tuesday, March 19, the menu for the dinner of champions at The Masters 2024, hosted by Jon Rahm, was made official. The defending champion opted for a completely Basque and Spanish menu, including tapas, pintxos, chistorra, croquettes, txangurro, chuletón, rodaballo (turbot) and milhojas.