Jon Rahm is Ready For Special Week at The Masters

The Champions Dinner is one of the many traditions at The Masters. It is hosted by the defending champion in the clubhouse on the Tuesday night before the tournament gets under way and you do not get an invitation unless you are a previous winner of the season’s opening major.

And that means that this year’s host is Jon Rahm. He also gets to choose the menu. 

What many of you may not realise is that the Spaniard also has to foot the bill for the entire shooting match. 

So it is probably just as well that his pockets are bulging with LIV dollars because this is going to be an expensive night.

Rahm will pay for the food and drink - and he will also have to pay for the chef who cooks the food.

You will not be surprised to learn that the former champions will be tucking in to a Spanish-inspired dinner. 

They will be kicking off with tapas featuring Iberian ham, cured pork loin, spicy Basque chorizo and a Spanish omelette.

There will be a first course of Basque crab salad served with potatoes.

And for those with a rumbling tummy, there is a choice of two main courses.

First on Rahm’s menu is the Basque ribeye, served with Tudela lettuce and piquillo peppers. There is also a fish option of turbot and Navarra white asparagus.

Other dishes on the menu include Idazabal cheese with black truffle, lentil stew and chicken fritters.

And for desert, Rahm has opted for puff pastry cake served with custard and Chantilly cream.

Rounding up offerings are the wine pairings, a dry Basque white called Txakoli and CVNE Imperial - a bottle of which Rahm has displayed proudly in his home office - a red from Rioja.

The wine was his grandfather’s favorite and it’s "very high quality" Rahm insisted, and it will be called upon to help him navigate his dinner speech jitters.

And Rahm cannot wait. He is even looking forward to getting up to speak to a gathering that will include such legends as Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer.

He said: "When I tell you that this has definitely been rent free in my head. I usually have no issues public speaking - I’ll get up there and talk about anything. But just the image of standing up and having everybody in that room look at me and having to speak to all these great champions, it’s quite daunting.

"I think I’m just going to speak from the heart, and that’s usually what delivers the better speech … I don’t know exactly what I’m going to say, but hopefully, one or two glasses of wine help me get a little bit more fluid."

Rahm remains optimistic that there is a way back to mainstream golf for himself and his fellow LIV rebels, and it is a subject that is bound to be addressed once again this week.

He said: "I just want to be able to see the best in the world compete against the best in the world, whatever that looks like. There’s room for all of us, and there’s room for the game of golf to get to the next level and have more viewership options.

"When it comes to football, for example, you have the Premier League, you have the Spanish League, you have the Bundesliga, Serie A, you have the French league, and also on top of that you have the main two European events, right, the Champions League and the Europa League, and everybody watches all of those no matter what team they support.

"So I think there is a way of having golf deliver and be able to put out a different product that’s better for everybody, not me or for players but for spectators in general."

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