Maybe It Was the Wine? Rory McIlroy Started His Masters Championship Run With an Amazing Dinner

This storied time of year, when spring blossoms and Augusta’s fairways glow under the blue skies of April, golfers stride upon America’s most famous course. But before the first round, Augusta National kicks off the week with one of golf’s most storied traditions: the Masters Champions Dinner.

Since 1952, the reigning champion has curated a private menu for a dinner held Tuesday night before the tournament begins for fellow green jacket holders. With no media and no guests, it remains one of the most exclusive rituals in sports.

This year’s dinner, hosted by 2025 winner Rory McIlroy, welcomed 33 of the 35 living Masters champions. Held on Tuesday, April 7, the evening carried added weight not just as a tradition, but as a long-awaited milestone.

For more than a decade, McIlroy’s pursuit of the green jacket has been one of golf’s most compelling narratives. Since his early major victories, Augusta remained the missing piece, a test of patience as much as skill. Year after year, near misses and mounting expectations only reinforced the question of whether his time would come. But much like a great wine, some achievements cannot be rushed.

Augusta’s Greatest Feast?

Fittingly, McIlroy’s menu reflected that maturity. Yet the most compelling element of the evening may have been in the glass. For the feast, the champ gets to raid Augusta National’s impressive cellar, and McIlroy curated a lineup that reflected both personal meaning and excellent taste.

Rory McIlroy’s dinner was a wine extravaganza. (Augusta National)

Appetizers

McIlroy kicked things off with a personal touch—bacon-wrapped dates, inspired by his mother Rosie. A vegetarian option, peach and ricotta flatbread paid tribute to Georgia “for Gary Player,” McIlroy joked, in a statement by the PGA. Grilled elk sliders nodded to his pre-tournament diet.

Wine: Salon Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne Le Mesnil 2015 (95 points)

First Course

McIlroy wanted yellowfin tuna carpaccio, recreated from the dish at his favorite New York restaurant, Le Bernardin. Augusta’s culinary team worked to replicate the dish with precision, honoring its simplicity.

Wine: Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet 2022 (97) — McIlroy told the PGA it was “the first white wine I actually liked.”

Main Course

Guests got to choose between wagyu filet mignon and seared salmon, accompanied by traditional Irish champ, creamy mashed potatoes blended with chopped green onions, butter and milk, a childhood favorite that McIlroy recalls eating “by the bowlful.”

Wine: Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac 1990 (95)

Dessert

Sticky toffee pudding, which McIlroy called an obvious “crowd-pleaser,” closed the meal.

Wine: Château d’Yquem Sauternes 1989 (97), from his birth year.

“I wanted to be really intentional with the wines,” McIlroy said. “It’s something I’ve become really passionate about over the past decade.”

Working alongside Augusta National’s sommeliers, McIlroy personally curated selections from the club’s cellar, ensuring each bottle aligned with both the menu and the narrative of his journey. At the table, the wines echoed that story, each one a reflection of time’s role in shaping greatness.

Together, the wines told a story familiar to Augusta: that the most meaningful moments, like the finest bottles, reveal themselves only when their time has truly come. The result was not just a dinner, but a statement, one of the most memorable in recent memory, with a rumored price tag nearing $65,000.

But good things come to those who wait. And good things come to those who drink outstanding wine. McIlroy went on to win his second Masters five days later. With another Green Jacket now his, he has another dinner to plan.

McIlroy followed his wine dinner with winning his second straight championship. (David Cannon/Getty Images)