Ahead of what should have been the start of the 2020 Masters, we look back at some of the best and worst Champions Dinners.

Tiger's fast food feast, Sandy's haggis horror show - The best and worst Masters Champions Dinners


Golf's tradition like no other has been pushed back by seven months, meaning Tiger Woods will have to wait to treat his fellow past Masters winners to the Champions Dinner for the fifth time.

History suggests that when Woods does settle on his menu choices, there is a strong chance a porterhouse steak will be the entree.

Woods has twice selected that cut of beef as the star of the show on his menu, doing so in successive years in 2002 and 2003.

The 15-time major winner has a long time to mull over his options for this year's feast and he may have to pull out all the stops to match some of the delights that have been served up since he last set the menu back in 2006.

Here we pick out some of the best and worst Champions Dinners from years gone by.

 

FINE FEASTS

1998: Tiger Woods - Cheeseburgers, Chicken sandwiches, french fries, milkshakes

Sometimes keeping it simple is the best way to go, and that is what Woods did a year after his maiden Masters win in 1997. He went with four staples of American fast food. Nothing fancy, but more than enough to whet the appetite.

2001: Vijay Singh - Seafood tom kah, chicken panang curry, baked sea scallops with garlic sauce, rack of lamb with yellow kari sauce, baked fillet Chilean sea bass with three flavour chili sauce, lychee sorbet.

The Big Fijian dished out big flavours in his lone Champions Dinner. The sea bass with three flavour chili sauce might have left some of the diners sweating, but at least they had a refreshing lychee sorbet to cool them off.

2010: Angel Cabrera - An Argentine asado, a multi-course barbecue featuring chorizo, blood sausage, short ribs, beef filets and mollejas (the thymus gland/sweetbreads).

Cabrera marked the one-year anniversary of his second major win by going for a meat lover's dream from his homeland. The only surprise being that the man known as El Pato did not add duck to the menu.

2016: Jordan Spieth - Salad of local greens; main course of Texas barbecue (beef brisket, smoked half chicken, pork ribs); sides of BBQ baked beans, bacon and chive potato salad, sauteed green beans, grilled zucchini, roasted yellow squash; dessert of warm chocolate chip cookie, vanilla ice cream.

It was no shock that the Texan went with a barbecue. When cooked correctly, there are few things more delectable than a tender brisket. While that meal must have gone down well, the fourth-round collapse that followed a few days later was tough to swallow for Spieth.

2018: Sergio Garcia - International salad (ingredients representing the countries of past champions); arroz caldoso de bogavante (a traditional Spanish lobster rice); tres leches cake with tres leches ice cream. 

A universally popular victor in 2017, Garcia played to the crowd in 2018 by including ingredients from the countries of past champions in his starter. The use of his mother's recipe for the desert made this classic Spanish fare a winner.

DOG'S DINNERS

1989: Sandy Lyle - Haggis, mashed potatoes, mashed turnips

Haggis is very much an acquired taste, and Lyle didn't exactly give the diners much to enjoy away from the Scottish savoury pudding with two bland side dishes.

1994: Bernhard Langer - Turkey and dressing; black forest torte

Without knowing the dressing, it's tough to give a full verdict on Langer's choice but opting for famously dry meat outside of Thanksgiving or Christmas Day is an odd decision.

1997: Nick Faldo - Fish and chips, tomato soup

Fish and chips is a universally popular British classic, but Faldo's decision to put it alongside tomato soup makes for a strange pairing.

2015: Bubba Watson - Traditional Caesar salad; grilled chicken breast with sides of green beans, mashed potatoes, corn, macaroni and cheese, served with cornbread; confetti cake and vanilla ice cream.

Two years on from his first Champions Dinner in 2013, Watson produced exactly the same menu. Surely a golfer with Watson's reputation for the unorthodox knows that variety is the spice of life? 

2017: Danny Willett - Mini cottage pies; a traditional Sunday roast (prime rib, roasted potatoes and vegetables, Yorkshire pudding); apple crumble and vanilla custard; coffee and tea with English cheese and biscuits, plus a selection of wines.

The Sunday roast is another British favourite. However, the combination of that entree with cottage pies and an apple crumble is an overly heavy one.