Many questions swirl around Rory McIlroy’s return to Augusta National in a few weeks’ time—Can he repeat? How’s the back? Is the fire still there?—but none more pressing than “what’s for dinner?” Thankfully we got that answer on Wednesday when McIlroy unveiled the menu for his 2026 Champions Dinner. Read it and weep and salivate.
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McIlroy appears to have gone upscale with his selections, opting for a wagyu filet for his cut of beef and a yellowfin tuna first course inspired by Le Bernandin, chef Eric Ripert’s iconic three-Michelin Star NYC seafood institution. But McIlroy’s menu is not entirely a white-table cloth affair, however. The bacon-wrapped dates are a tribute to the dates his mother used to serve when he was a child, while the rustic grilled elk sliders represent a bit of a good-luck charm, as McIlroy says he ate elk several times in the build-up to last year’s triumphant Masters.
On the whole, McIlroy’s menu shouldn’t ruffle too many feathers. It has a little something for everyone—a little sweet, a little savory and sometimes even both at the same time—and according to the 2026 champ, that's by desgin.
"I always thought about if I did win the Masters one day, what would I want it to look like? What would I like to serve?" McIlroy said on Wednesday. "I didn’t really want to go with a theme … hopefully this isn’t my last time hosting the dinner, so I felt I wanted to do something that I would enjoy but also all the other champions would enjoy as well. So it wasn’t put together off the top of my head. I tried to be pretty thoughtful with it and tried to incorporate some of the things I like and a few personal touches along the way."
It's hard to argue with that. Even Sir Nick Faldo, one of the Champions Dinner’s toughest food critics over the years, shouldn’t have too much to complain about it. Perhaps he’s more of a ribeye guy, but McIlroy’s menu is certainly a big step up from “Chuck E. Cheese’s.”
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