Most victories, biggest margin, lowest under par, most birdies and double bogeys, the list goes on. But Faldo would like to humbly suggest one very important Masters record is missing:
Best Masters Champions dinner menu.
Each year on Tuesday evening, every living Masters Champion who is present, gathers with the Club Chairman, for a special night of reflection and celebration of the current and past Champions.
The current Masters Champion, Trevor Immelman, will select the 2009 dinner menu and pays for the meal.
This exclusive dinner is one of the many Masters traditions, copied by others, but never fully replicated in history, tradition and fellowship.
“You just order the food and hope everybody likes it. A good meal, good wine, just a good time,” said 2000 Masters Champion Vijay Singh. “It’s one of the things which makes the Masters unique.”
The dinner, also known as the Masters Club, was initiated by Ben Hogan in 1952 as an opportunity to get former Masters Champions together in a time of friendship and fellowship, bound by their common grand golf accomplishment. The result was an enduring Masters tradition.
Two-time Champion Byron Nelson served as host of the dinner for many years then handing the duties before his passing to current host Ben Crenshaw.
“It’s just such an honor to be with those men and know what a select group I’m privlidged to be a part of,” said Crenshaw.
Faldo remembers going to his first Masters Champions dinner after winning in 1989 and being amazed by what he found.
“Byron Nelson would always come loaded with Masters statistics he had gotten from a friend of his. He would say, ‘Do you know the men in this room are a combined 356 under par in their Masters career?’ It was really amazing.”
England’s Faldo said he followed the tradition, adopted over the decades for the defending champion to pick the menu with food representing his home country.
For his first Masters meal, Faldo selected steak and kidney pie with traditional English gravy.
“The gravy was extra strong with just the right favor. That’s what makes the entire meal.”
The following year, he repeated as Champion and returned with shepherd’s pie and the traditional English desert of trifle.
Perhaps the most unique dinner item came from Scotland’s Sandy Lyle who offered the native dish of his country, haggis.
Charles Coody opted for thick Texas T-Bone steaks after winning in 1971 while Faldo selected English Fish and Chips with mushy peas after his third victory in 1996.
Four-time winner Tiger Woods went with California hamburgers and milk shakes after his first win in 1997.
Phil Mickelson choose Lobster Ravioli after winning in 2004. The 2007 champion Zach Johnson, who grew up in Iowa, but now lives in Florida, offered a mixture of steak from the Midwest and seafood from the Gulf Coast.
After his masterful three-shot victory over Woods in 2008, current champion Trevor Immelman said he feels the pressure to get it right during Masters Week 2009.
“I don’t want to give it all away ahead of time, but it will be a mixture of grilled meats from back home (South Africa). Something we eat a lot of back there.”
Immelman said his toughest challenge this year might be selecting the wine that goes with the meal.
With countrymen David Frost, Gary Player, Ernie Els and himself all involved in producing wines at different levels, finding the right vintage from the right person could be tricky.
“Maybe I should just hold a bidding war between the guys. Who wants to have their wine served for the Masters dinner?” he said.
While the Champion picks the main menu offerings, players can either dine from what he selects or off the regular Club menu.
“I was mis-informed,” 1987 Masters Champion Larry Mize said. “I thought everybody had to eat what the Champion selected, so I took it easy on the guys. We did have some mighty fine peach cobbler.”
Other than the meal and a photo taken of the group, which can stretch back nearly 50 years, there isn’t any kind of a formal agenda. Nelson used to call on Sam Snead to end the session with a joke or story, but now it’s just a chance for Masters Champions across the eras to socialize and remember their grandest golf accomplishment.
“It’s quite a unique event,” said 1956 Masters Champion Jack Burke, Jr., who will be attending this year’s dinner for the first time in seven years.
Mike Weir, who had a chief friend from his Canadian hometown prepare some native meats, said one of his favorite parts was paying the bill.
“I don’t even remember how much it cost, but I’d love the chance to pay it again.”
In absence of any formal Masters records on top Masters Club dinners, Faldo said he’s happy to offer his own.
“I ranked Crenshaw’s dinner in 1996 number one, when he had fajitas and all the trimmings, which was fantastic. I’d pick Vijay’s Thai food as number two and the fish and chips I served (in 1997) as number three. We had the real British newspapers to put them on and everything. I’d still reserve the third spot for myself.
“It’s just a fantastic time. I can’t wait for this year.”
