Elk and a taste of home on McIlroy's Masters menu
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Rory McIlroy will use one of his mother's favourite dishes among appetisers, that also include elk, when he hosts the traditional champion's dinner before his defence of the Masters next month.
The most recent winner at Augusta selects the menu for other past champions at an occasion which takes place in the clubhouse on the Tuesday evening of Masters week.
McIlroy's choices include some of his favourite dishes, as well as a reminder from his dramatic 2025 victory, which ended an 11-year wait to complete the career Grand Slam of major titles.
"I think it would be pretty presumptuous to have a menu in your head before you actually win the tournament," said the Northern Irishman.
"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?
"I felt this time around, I wanted to do something that I would enjoy, but I wanted to do something that all other champions would enjoy, as well."
Before McIlroy and former champions such as Scottie Scheffler, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson sit down, they will have a choice of four appetisers.
"My Mum does these really, really nice dates stuffed with goat cheese wrapped in bacon, so I put those on the appetisers list. So thanks to Rosie for that one.
"In the build-up to the Masters last year, I got this big shipment of elk and I was eating a lot of that, and I didn't want elk to be the main course because I didn't know if everyone would like that.
"I incorporated that into the appetisers so I'm doing grilled elk sliders, which I think is fun."
There will also be shrimp tempura and Georgia peach and ricotta flatbread with hot honey.
The starter is a nod to McIlroy's favourite New York restaurant, Le Bernardin, where the 36-year-old always orders yellowfin tuna carpaccio.
"That's a fun one that the club worked with me on," he added.
"They went up to the restaurant and worked with the chefs, and made sure. They obviously wanted to get it right for the night."
'It's all going to be about enjoying my week'
The five-time major champion goes back to his roots with Irish champ as a main course side dish to accompany either wagyu filet mignon or seared salmon.
"When I was a kid I used to eat champ by the bowlful, so trying to tie in a little bit of my upbringing there," he said.
McIlroy called his choice of sticky toffee pudding a "crowd pleaser" but said he had had most fun selecting the wine.
"It's something that I'm really into and passionate about, and I've started to collect wine, probably over the past decade," he added.
His choice of a 2022 Domaine Leflaive Batard Montrachet is the first white wine he has ever liked, while the red, a 1990 Chateau Lafite Rothschild from Pauillac in Bordeaux, is particularly poignant.
"That is the wine that I drank the night that I won the Masters, so obviously brings back some great memories," said McIlroy. "Shane Lowry had a little bit to do with getting that wine, so I want to shout him out for that."
McIlroy seems unlikely to play again before his title defence at the event, which runs from 9-12 April. He expects to feel a sense of freedom that always eluded him during his lengthy and often tortuous quest to land the famous green jacket.
"This is going to be the first time I drive down Magnolia Lane, and it's all going to be about enjoying my week, enjoying the perks that come along with being a Masters champion - having a parking space in the champions car park, to using the champions locker room, hosting the dinner on the Tuesday night," he admitted.
"The thing is, I know I get to go back to the Masters tournament for the rest of my life, and that's quite a freeing feeling."
