Jordan Spieth sweats over Champions Dinner

Jordan Spieth was far more nervous about hosting the Champions Dinner than he was over winning The Masters

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Republished from Masters.com

April 06, 2016: For a man who coolly captured the first two legs (and nearly the third) of golf’s Grand Slam at the age of 21, hosting a dinner of fellow players would seem an easy task. But the Champions Dinner at Augusta National is no ordinary gathering, and the prospect of performing the ceremonial role seemed rather intimidating to Jordan Spieth.

As he looked ahead to this week, Spieth described his responsibilities at the Champions Dinner as “the most nerve-wracking thing right now.” On Tuesday afternoon, a few hours before the event, he thought aloud about it some more.

“I imagine the Chairman will maybe ask me to say a few words,” said Spieth, who last year became the second-youngest champion in Masters history. “I’ll certainly think of something that makes sense, given the timing. But I’ll probably do less talking and more listening tonight.

http://www.masters.com/en_US/watch/2016-04-05/34046_0405_1.html

“It will be certainly unique. There will be nothing that I’ve ever done before or will ever do that will match the first time talking to that audience.”

Presiding over the Champions Dinner, a tradition started by Ben Hogan in 1952, is one of many special honors for Spieth this week. He returned to Augusta National to find his name engraved on the permanent Masters trophy and etched on a brass plate on the locker he will share with Arnold Palmer in the Champions Locker Room.

Champions Dinner Menu at the Augusta National Golf Club 2016
Champions Dinner Menu at the Augusta National Golf Club 2016
As part of hosting the dinner, the defending champion traditionally selects the menu, not to mention pays the tab. Spieth, a native of Dallas, is following the example set by one of his heroes, fellow University of Texas Longhorn and two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, in serving Texas barbecue.

Over the years, the menu selections have stirred more than a little banter among the Green Jacket winners who convene over long, adjoining tables in the Augusta National Clubhouse. In 1988, Scotsman Sandy Lyle offered haggis, the traditional dish of sheep innards minced with oatmeal and spices.

Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, the 2011 champion, chose an assortment of grilled meats with monkey-gland sauce. Not to worry, he assured, “there’s no monkey and there’s no gland.” Two years later, Adam Scott raised eyebrows by featuring Moreton Bay bugs, lobsters flown in from the east coast of Australia. The attendees always have the option of ordering more standard fare.

But it’s the multigenerational aspect of the Champions Dinner that Masters winners say they value most. The ages of those expected to be in attendance Tuesday evening range from 22 (Spieth) to 93 (Doug Ford, who won his Green Jacket during the Eisenhower era).

Tom Watson, the two-time winner who is playing in his 43rd and final Masters this week at age 66, reminisced under the old live oak behind the Clubhouse about the privilege of once being around legends such as Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead. “And now I’m one of the old guys,” he said.

Fuzzy Zoeller, the 1979 Masters winner, recalled a story told to him at the dinner by Herman Keiser, who won the Tournament in 1946. Struggling with his game and short of cash early in his career, Keiser shared his troubles with Ben Hogan, who lent him $1,500. Nearly a half-century later, Keiser asked Zoeller to thank Hogan for him at the Colonial Invitational. Zoeller obliged, and to this day he remembers Hogan’s replying, “Fuzzy, he has never forgotten.”

Scott spoke with reverence about the chance to share an evening with fellow Masters champions young and old. “To have a very intimate dinner with the Who’s Who of the game of golf is something that I think I should cherish very much,” he said.

Mark O’Meara, whose 1998 Masters victory was one of his two major titles, said he can hardly believe he belongs in such rarefied company.

“I look around that room and I keep thinking half the time, ‘Is this happening to me? Did I really win the Masters?’” O’Meara said. “It’s something that any champion, certainly Jordan this year, is going to really enjoy.”

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