If you can’t play a round of golf like Jordan Spieth, at least you can eat like him. (You can also quadruple-bogey like him, but that’s not fun for anyone. Except maybe Danny Willett.)
It’s an Augusta National tradition that the defending Masters champion hosts an exclusive meal the following year. The only men invited belong to the Masters Club, an exclusive catalogue of previous winners who tuck in Tuesday night before the first round begins Thursday.
After he won in 2015, Spieth returned a year later and laid out a feast fit for all of Texas with beef brisket, smoked chicken, pork ribs, baked beans, potato salad, roasted veggies, and chocolate chip cookies to finish it off.
Champion's Dinner: Jordan Spieth style. pic.twitter.com/SJZyYX6Onq
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 6, 2016
To indulge fans closer to home at three public clubhouses --- Langara, McCleery and Fraserview --- Vancouver Parks Golf has put Spieth’s barbeque on the menu with a pulled pork sandwich. This weekend while the Masters continues through Sunday, the sammy comes with coleslaw and fries for $12.95.
“As is customary at Augusta, the champion gets to choose the menu for the following year’s champions dinner. Mr. Spieth choose BBQ, we honoured his win by naming our pulled pork sandwich after him,” wrote Mark Halyk, the Van Golf food operations manager, in an email to me.
It’s a first for the Vancouver clubhouses. May the tradition continue next year with a Willett roast beef dip. And never feature the dry boredom of confetti cake.
Did You Know: Each hole at Augusta is named after a plant or shrub. For example, No. 3 is called "Flowering Crab Apple." #Masters
— Vancouver Parks Golf (@VanParksGolf) April 7, 2017
My own Masters meal (now that women are recognized as human beings, almost) would include seafood, bacon and pizza with beer from my neighbourhood craft brewer, 33 Acres, and Riesling from Dirty Laundry. And for dessert.
After his first win in 1996, Tiger Woods went full diner with a dinner of cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, fries and milkshakes. After that, with wins in 2001 and ’02, he upgraded to sushi and steak.
Ontario’s Mike Weir had one of the all-time best menus since the tradition started in 1952. The 2003 champ gave the Masters Club a taste of refined, rustic Canadiana with lobster in puff pastry, wild boar, sockeye tartare, rack of elk, and filet mignon with some asparagus to match his new green jacket.
As the 2016 champion, Willett looked homeward, like Weir, and indulged an Englishman’s tastes with cottage pie, “Sunday roast” and Yorkshire tea.
Twitter: @MHStewart
