The mouth-watering way Augusta National is bringing the Masters to fans
Augusta National wants you to be able to have an authentic pimento cheese sandwich, even if you can't be at the Masters to enjoy it.
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There’s nothing better than the Masters. The green jacket pageantry, the perfectly hewn azaleas, the heart-pounding golf. The scissor-trimmed rough and custom-order sand only add to the allure. It is the perfect golf tournament, played upon a perfect piece of land in its most perfect condition.
OK, there is something better than the Masters. Or at least, just as good: its concessions.
Each year, Augusta National welcomes hordes — excuse us, patrons — through its gates for one glorious week, and each year, those patrons are greeted by a wildly affordable array of food and drink. The menu items are delectable (and locally focused), but more importantly than that, they’re cheap.
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There’s the famed pimento cheese sandwich, which retails for $1.50; the Georgia peach ice-cream sandwich (which will run you a cool $2); and, for the high-rollers willing to commit the cardinal sin of spending three whole dollars on a concession, a barbeque pulled pork sandwich. Hell, with beer running for $4, the world’s biggest golf tournament might just beat the price point at your local watering hole.
This year, though, the patrons are gone, and so are the concessions. And while that’s certainly no reason to complain (a Masters with no dirt-cheap concessions is better than no Masters at all), it does mean that we’ll have to make adjustments to our traditional green jacket eating habits.
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Fortunately, Augusta National understands your pain, and they’re here to help you fill the pimento-cheese-sandwich-sized hole in your heart.
On Monday, the Masters granted those with tickets to this year’s tournament access to the Masters’ “patron shop,” a brand-new online retail platform in place of the traditional brick-and-mortar location on the tournament grounds. Included among the items for sale on the patron shop is “Taste of the Masters,” Augusta National’s attempt to bring the magic of the tournament’s concessions into your home.
By purchasing the Taste of the Masters collection, fans can have a series of “signature” concession items to be shipped to their home just in time for viewing the action from Augusta. The package, which is meant to serve 10-12 people, according to the Masters website, includes the following:
- 1 pound of pimento cheese
- 1 pound of egg salad
- 1.5 pounds of pork “bar-b-que”
- 8 bags of potato chips
- 6 chocolate chip cookies
- 6 bags of caramel popcorn
- 25 commemorative Masters cups
- Logo checkerboard serving paper
For Masters diehards, the Augusta National offering is a Georgia peach ice cream sandwich away from a slam dunk. A Taste of the Masters is exactly that, a taste of the tournament we’ll all be watching from home in a few weeks’ time (with rare exception). It can’t replace the enjoyment that accompanies a meandering walk around Augusta National while enjoying such menu items, but it comes pretty damn close.
There is, however, a catch. You won’t be receiving the rock-bottom concession prices you’ve grown so accustomed to. As it turns out, it’s rather expensive to ship large quantities of perishable food across the country. As such, the Masters has attached a $150 price tag to the package, which includes the cost of expedited shipping.
Select numbers of the Taste of the Masters package are available to those with access to the shop and can be delivered on one of six days between now and the Friday of tournament week.
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