José María Olazábal is one of the great experts in the champions’ dinner at the Masters of Augusta. Not in vain, he has been part of them since 1995, when he hosted the first one after winning the 1994 Masters. Thus, the golfer from Fuenterrabía has been in 27 editions, as he missed due to injury in 1996, 2010 and 2016.
If we add to this trajectory his Basque origin, we must conclude without any shadow of a doubt, that we are facing one of the most authoritative voices to establish a historical ranking of quality in the champions’ dinners, at least, of course, from his taste and point of view.
His top 3 of dinners surprises. Anyone could think that Olazábal would go for the obvious, highlighting the editions where there were Spanish champions, but no. Beyond the fact that he was not at Seve Ballesteros‘s in ’81 and ’84 and that he has not spoken about his own, he has placed those of Sergio García and Jon Rahm tied in third place. So who are the first two? Look for the exotic route…
In the second place of the Olazábal guide is the dinner that Hideki Matsuyama organized in 2022. The Japanese’s menu was as follows:
In the first position, Olazábal does not blink when making the choice. “There has to be the one that Vijay Singh gave us, spectacular. It was a special dinner. He brought the chef from the best Thai restaurant in Atlanta, a show. He served us like ten different dishes.
Specifically, Vijay’s menu was composed among other things by: panang chicken curry, tom kah (spicy chicken soup), scallops with garlic sauce, lamb ribs, sea bass with chili sauce and lychee sorbet.
It is evident that the two-time Masters champion likes oriental food.
As we say, in the third position he has placed Sergio and Jon. The dinner of the Castellón native was very Spanish:
Meanwhile, regarding Jon’s, Chema had no objection, don’t be fooled. “The food was fabulous, everything delicious.”
And Olazábal, the great taster, what did he serve his Green Jacket colleagues? Well, in 1995, his first dinner, he offered paella, hake and an assortment of different tapas, while in 2000 he treated them to beef steak with red wine sauce, romaine lettuce with olive oil and vinegar, french fries and shallots.
In these last 30 years of champions’ dinners there have also been some failed tributes or, at least, not as suggestive as the ones mentioned above. The most known was the case of Patrick Reed, a dinner that Nick Faldo described as a Happy Meal.
