Bob Longenecker

Rory McIlroy explains why he made each selection for his 2026 Masters Champions Dinner menu: 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 & 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗮 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 “I wanted to try to bring a little bit of the local ingredients in. So I'm doing a Georgia peach and ricotta flatbread with hot honey. So hopefully that will go down well with the drinks.” 𝗥𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝗵𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗽 𝗧𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗮 “I think everyone likes rock shrimp tempura, so sort of a crowd pleaser with that one.” 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗼𝗻-𝗪𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 “My mum does these really, really nice dates stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in bacon … Thanks to Rosie for that one.” 𝗚𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝗹𝗸 𝗦𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 “In the buildup to the Masters last year, I was eating a lot of elk ... I didn't want elk to be the main course because I didn't know if everyone would like that … So I'm doing grilled elk sliders which I think is fun.” 𝗬𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗳𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝘂𝗻𝗮 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗼 “My wife, Erica and I, our favorite restaurant, or one of our favorite right now is in New York. It's called Le Bernardin. Eric Ripert is the chef there, and this is a dish from that restaurant. It's a yellowfin tuna carpaccio. It's a really thin slice of French baguette with a really thin slight of foie gras on top of that … So that's a fun one that the club worked with me on as well. They went up to the restaurant and worked with the chefs, and made sure; that they obviously wanted to get it right for the night, so that's really cool.” 𝗪𝗮𝗴𝘆𝘂 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗠𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝗻 “It's an amazing honor to be able to host it, but at the same time, I want everyone to enjoy it. I went for two different options for the main course, a wagyu filet mignon for people that want red meat, or a fillet of seared salmon; so depending on what you want.” 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 “When I was a kid, I used to eat (Irish) champ by the bowlful … Some sauteed brussels sprouts. Glazed carrots with brown butter. And then trying to bring a little bit of that local flavor back in, some crispy Vidalia onion rings. Vidalia is not too far away from Augusta, about a two, two-and-a-half-hour drive.” 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸𝘆 𝗧𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗲 𝗣𝘂𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 “I think very much a crowd-pleaser, sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream on warm toffee sauce.” 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 "My favorite part of the menu is you obviously get access to the wonderful wine cellar at Augusta National. We're starting off with a 2015 Salon Brut champagne. And then followed by a 2022. Domaine Leflaive Batard Montrachet. It's the first-ever white wine that I actually liked ... And then for the red wine we're receiving a 1990 Chateau Lafite Rothschild from Pauillac in Bordeaux. That is the wine that I drank the night that I won the Masters, so obviously brings back some great memories. Shane Lowry had a little bit to do with getting that wine, so I want to shout him out for that, too ... To finish off, we're going with a 1989 Chateau D'Yquem dessert wine from Sauternes in Bordeaux, as well. Obviously '89, my birth year, and I think every great meal deserved to be finished off with Chateau D'Yquem. It is like liquid gold. I wanted to be really intentional with the wines. It's something that I'm really into and passionate about and started to collect wine, probably over the past decade."

A very nice Cabernet from Schrader and Thomas Rivers Brown. Always have a few in my cellar. Cheers!