Rory McIlroy will host the Masters champions dinner this year. The dinner is held two days before the major at Augusta National Golf Club. There is an unwritten rule that golfers do not sit in the section where Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods sit at the Masters champions dinner.
Professional golfer Jordan Spieth, who won the Masters in 2015, described the seating arrangements. 'There's a certain section on the far side from where we sit where you don't sit, because it's Jack [Nicklaus] and Tiger [Woods]. And that's where Arnie [Arnold Palmer] was,' Spieth said.
Scottie Scheffler, who has won the Masters twice in the last three or four years, echoed this sentiment. 'There's a little protocol. Guys kind of have like, I would say, sections where they sit.
It's kind of like 6th, 7th grade. If the teacher has assigned seats you get all bummed and if they let you sit wherever you want you end up sitting in the same spot anyways. It's kind of the same deal. Sit with Scottie [Scheffler], but then when Scottie wins, you know, he's done that twice in the last three or four or so.
But you move around a little bit. There's not necessarily assigned seats but I'm definitely not going to go sit in the area where Tiger and Jack sit. Like, there's kind of spots where you kind of feel you'll naturally flow into,' Scheffler stated.
Spieth, now 32 years old, reflected on his own experience hosting the dinner at age 22. 'You speak in that room. It's like, what am I going to say to these guys?
And I was 22. I don't even remember what I said,' he recalled. Scheffler shared his nerves from his first time as host.
There's a certain section on the far side from where we sit where you don't sit, because it's Jack [Nicklaus] and Tiger [Woods]. And that's where Arnie [Arnold Palmer] was.
'Definitely the first time around when you're hosting the dinner, it's your first time in that room, you don't really know what to expect. I had no idea what it's going to be like. The only thing I really knew was where I was going to sit.
That's basically the only thing I knew, sitting next to Mr. Crenshaw and the chairman [Fred Ridley]. So, yeah, I was definitely nervous.
I'm not really a super social guy to begin with,' he said. Rory McIlroy's menu for the Masters champions dinner was partly inspired by his mum Rosie and his wife Erica.