Augusta, 03 April: Sergio Garcia is staying true to his promise. A touch of family, a whiff of Spain and the expectation of stories sum up his plans for Champions Dinner on Tuesday night. The defending champion will host the traditional dinner at the Masters with great flair and a warm smile.
The fare will begin with an international salad, drawing ingredients from ten countries, which produced Masters champions. Garcia will address the champions as a part of the tradition around the dinner.
The main course will feature lobster – Garcia chose Arroz Caldoso de Bogavante, a dish of lobster and rice. It is a traditional Spanish dish with a rich history. The Spaniard’s lady, Angela Garcia also baked a Tres Leches Cake. Tempranillo, among other Spanish wines are also on the menu.
“I love desserts. I’m not gonna lie about that,” confessed Garcia in a video posted by the Masters on twitter.
The menu in 2017 included cottage pie, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding – in a traditional English dinner hosted by then champion Danny Willett.
Garcia clocked 22 top 10 finishes in majors before finally winning his first title at the Masters in 2017.
Since then Garcia and his wife Angela Akins have invited Azalea Adele Garcia into their happy family. The Spaniard is clearly playing without the burden of near misses, after making 74 starts without a victory.
Ben Hogan hosted the first dinner in 1952 and it has since become one of the finest traditions at the Masters. There is no specific seating arrangement at the table, but the Chairman, now Fred Ridley, Ben Crenshaw the emcee and the defending champion sit at the head of the group.
“There’s no rules, it’s a free-for-all, pretty much,” Bubba Watson told the Golf Channel. “There’s a pecking order. You let the greats of the game sit first and then you fill in after that.”
Another facet of Tuesday’s dinner is that it is the first for Ridley, who took over from Billy Payne last year. It will be his duty to welcome Sergio into the Masters Club, by presenting him a locket signifying his inclusion.
“It’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. It’s a locket that opens three ways. It’s actually a neckless for your wife,” Crenshaw explained. “It’s a gold locket and you open it and it has a dark silhouette of the clubhouse and Bobby Jones and Cliff Roberts and on the back it says, ‘Ben Hogan, founder of the Masters Club.”
