LEFTY: MASTERS CHAMP, AND ANNA PAVLOVA EXPERT
The Champions Dinner at the Masters Tournament is traditionally held on Tuesday night, with the menu set by the defending champion, which this year is Dustin Johnson.
His menu sounds like something straight off the banquet circuit:
Appetizers of pigs in a blanket plus lobster and corn fritters; house or Caesar salad; a main course of filet mignon or miso-marinated sea bass with mashed potatoes and spring vegetables; peach cobbler or apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert.
That probably won't have many former champions scratching their heads, wondering what various menu items are, like when Australian Adam Scott served pavlova for dessert in 2014.
Phil Mickelson picks up the story here:
“He had this wonderful meal, Australian-themed, and out comes dessert and it's pavlova. It's meringue with some fruit and so forth. Now, you can't Google this stuff because there's no cellphones allowed (at Augusta National), right? I said, ‘Oh, pavlova, that's inspired by the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova who was touring through New Zealand and Australia (in the early 1900s), and an Australian chef was so inspired by her beautiful movement and tutu, he made a dessert after her.'
“(Former Augusta National Chairman Billy) Payne looked at me like, what kind of stuff are you spewing here? Zach Johnson looks at me, says, ‘I've got $100 that says that's not right.'
“So everybody is calling me out on my bs. And a lot of times, I am bs-ing. However, my daughter was a dancer and she wrote a biography on Anna Pavlova, and I made 32 pavlovas for her class when she was a little girl, and I knew this. And I ended up being right, which is not often, but I was right on that particular moment.”
One person who won't be at the dinner is Justin Thomas, who has won 14 times on tour and the 2017 PGA Championship but never the Masters.
“It's definitely a fraternity I would love to join,” Thomas said. “In terms of a meal, I mean, you don't care. You could serve water, and I would be pleased as long as I'm there, because that means that I've won the Masters.”
Phil on politics
Mickelson was asked, as a Masters champion, if he struggles to reconcile some of the past discriminatory policies of Augusta National.
“Years ago, I made a statement tax-wise (about) California,” Mickelson said.
“Big mistake, got into politics. Not going to do it again. I have my beliefs, and I'm going to live my life according to those beliefs, and I'm going to try to treat people the right way without discrimination. That's the best I can do is lead by example, but I'm not going to get into politics. It never goes well.”
Comfort zone
San Diego's Xander Schauffele is making his fourth Masters start. He's starting to get the hang of the place and not merely be awed by it.
“I'd say I'm more comfortable on property,” Schauffele said Tuesday after a short practice round followed by an abbreviated range session. “I've learned to not get stuck on the range on Monday and Tuesday. It's just a really cool place with the facilities and just being here at Augusta National. As a kid, you dream of being here, and once you get here, you can hang out till dark every day. And then by the time Thursday comes, you're completely burned out.”
It was 4:15 p.m., and he was headed out.
Seeing red
When asked for his most visceral Masters memory, Schauffele said Tiger Woods wearing red on Sunday.
What color shirt will he wear Sunday?
“I don't know what's scripted by Adidas,” he laughed, “but I can look it up later.”