Rory McIlroy has put together a menu for the Masters Club dinner nearly as dramatic as the back nine he played at Augusta National to win the green jacket.
There's a taste of home in Northern Ireland with his mother's bacon-wrapped dates as an appetizer and Irish Champ as a side dish.
He stayed local with crispy Vidalia onion rings that come from a 20-county region in southeastern Georgia. There's also a Georgia peach and ricotta flatbread.
And no, that isn't just any yellowfin tuna carpaccio as the first course. The staff from Augusta National flew to his favorite restaurant in New York, Le Bernardin, to meet with the chef so they could prepare the dish just the way McIlroy likes it.
There are 12 items on the menu from appetizers to dessert, and then four labels from Augusta National's fabled wine cellar.
By the look of it, McIlroy had been planning this over the 17 years he spent trying to win the Masters, which culminated in a thriller last year that gave him the career Grand Slam.
“I think it would be pretty presumptuous to have a menu in your head before you actually win the tournament,” McIlroy said in a conference call Wednesday. “But I always thought about if I win the Masters one day, what would I want it to look like? What would I like to serve?”
The defending champion is host of the Masters Club — also known as the “Champions Dinner” — a tradition that dates to 1952. The dinner is only for Masters champions. The club chairman, Fred Ridley, is an honorary member. It is held every Tuesday evening during Masters week.
The host picks the menu — and picks up the tab.
Scottie Scheffler last year had Texas touches with a cowboy ribeye, Texas-style chili and jalapeno creamed corn. Jon Rahm's menu had a Spanish flavor. Hideki Matsuyama of Japan had sashimi. Sandy Lyle of Scotland served haggis and Adam Scott of Australia included Moreton Bay lobster. Players from 13 countries have won the Masters.
“No, it wasn’t put together off the top of my head. I tried to be pretty thoughtful with it,” McIlroy said. “Tried to incorporate some of the things that I like and some little personal touches along the way. But at the same time, trying to put together a good enough menu that everybody would enjoy.”
Dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon. The recipe belongs to his mother, Rosie.
Grilled elk sliders (McIlroy said he was eating a lot of elk leading up to the Masters last year.)
Rock shrimp tempura
Georgia peach and ricotta flatbread with hot honey
Yellowfin tuna carpaccio
“It's a really thin slice of French baguette with a really thin slice of foie gras on top of that and tuna carpaccio,” he said. “It’s a really simple dish, but every time we go to that restaurant (Le Bernardin), that’s the one thing that I have to have.”
Wagyu filet mignon or seared salmon
Traditional Irish Champ (creamy mashed potatoes mixed with green onions, butter and milk)
Sauteed brussels sprouts
Glazed carrots with brown butter
Crispy Vidalia onion rings
Sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream on warm toffee sauce
2015 Salon “S” Brut Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Champagne
2022 Domaine Leflaive, Batard-Montrachet
1990 Chateau Lafite Rothschild from Pauillac in Bordeaux ("The wine that I drank the night that I won the Masters," he said.)
1989 Chateau D’Yquem from Sauternes in Bordeaux ("My birth year, and I think every great meal deserves to be finished off with Chateau D’Yquem. It is like liquid gold," he said.)
“Can't wait to host the dinner on Tuesday night,” McIlroy said. “And then obviously, be a part of that dinner for many, many years to come.”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
FILE - Former two-time Masters Champion Bernhard Langer, left, signs an autograph for fellow former champion Fred Couples, right, at the Augusta National Golf Club prior to the annual Champions dinner at the 2002 Masters, April 9, 2002, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)
FILE - Scottie Scheffler puts the green Jacket on winner, Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, at the Masters golf tournament, April 13, 2025, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Vexed by the Justice Department’s chaotic oversight of federal prosecutions in New Jersey, a judge on Monday threw a government attorney out of a hearing and ordered the three officials in charge of the state’s U.S. Attorney’s office to answer his questions under oath.
U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi lit into prosecutors after another judge ruled last week that the Trump administration’s decision to replace interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba with a trio of officials was another violation of the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, which requires Senate confirmation.
The officials, Philip Lamparello, Jordan Fox and Ari Fontecchio, have remained in charge pending an appeal.
Quraishi quizzed Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosenblum about his office’s current management structure and whether Habba, a Justice Department senior adviser, has any role in running the office, which she has denied.
When Rosenblum’s supervising attorney interjected, Quraishi accused him of trying to “blindside” the court and ordered him to leave or risk being removed by court security officers.
The judge vented his frustrations as he was preparing to sentence a man for possessing child sexual abuse material — a case that he said had been compromised by a “sloppy investigation” and the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s haste to reach a plea agreement. The sentencing was rescheduled.
“You have lost the confidence and the trust of this Court,” Quraishi told Rosenblum during a tense 22-minute hearing. “You have lost the confidence and the trust of the New Jersey legal community, and you are losing the trust and confidence of the public.”
The New York Times reported on the judge’s remarks and posted a transcript of the proceeding to its website.
Chad Gilmartin, a spokesman for the Justice Department, told the Times: “Unfortunately some judges are more interested in courtroom theatrics and constitutional overreach than promoting public safety. It is an especially troubling moment when a court chooses to sideline a case involving child exploitation.”
Lamparello, Fox and Fontecchio, referred to by the judge and in court records as “the triumvirate,” have remained in charge because the judge who ruled to bar them, Matthew Brann, paused the decision from taking immediate effect to give the government time to appeal.
But, Brann wrote in his 130-page opinion, “a stay cannot validate an unlawful appointment” and that “If the Government chooses to leave the triumvirate in place, it does so at its own risk.”
“Here is your risk. This is your risk,” said Quraishi, who was appointed in 2021 by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
The judge said he didn’t believe Rosenblum’s claim that Lamparello, Fox and Fontecchio were still in charge and that no one else, such as Habba, was influencing the office’s decision making.
Quraishi said he wouldn’t believe anything federal prosecutors told him until the three officials testify before him in Trenton on May 4. If their answers aren’t satisfactory, the judge said he may summon Habba and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Justice Department’s second-in-command, to testify.
Quraishi was hot from the start of Monday’s proceeding, laying into Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Coyne for appearing in court without prior notice and for interrupting repeatedly without permission.
“I’m not going to hear from you, Mr. Coyne. If you want to sit there for moral support or hand Mr. Rosenblum Post-its or whisper in his ear, I’ll let you do that as supervisor,” Quraishi said in one of several dust ups before telling Coyne to leave.
The judge also questioned the judgment of prosecutors to reach a plea agreement with the defendant in the child sexual abuse material case before the FBI had finished searching his electronic devices. The plea agreement calls for a “significantly lower” sentence than prescribed by federal sentencing guidelines, Quraishi said.
“It was a sloppy investigation where, while you executed a plea agreement, the FBI uncovered significantly more child pornography that you couldn’t charge and now you’re stuck with a plea agreement because you’re bound by it,” Quraishi said.
FILE - Alina Habba speaks after being sworn in as interim US Attorney General for New Jersey, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on March 28, 2025. (Pool File via AP, file)
