Masters Champions Dinner excites Dustin Johnson. But there’s 1 thing

Dustin Johnson seems hungry. He’s seen this year’s Masters Champions Dinner menu, curated, as is the custom, by last year’s Masters champion, Jon Rahm, and he says he’s hankering for the meal that’ll be served two days ahead of this year’s first major.

But it’s here where we’ve maybe learned something about DJ. 

He’s unafraid to live a little. He’s a bit of a dining daredevil. 

Rahm’s feast should be undoubtedly electric. Upon its announcement earlier this month, the headline on this website said this: “Jon Rahm’s Masters Champions Dinner menu is out, and we’re salivating.” A fair assessment. Then there were Rahm’s feelings on it. 

On a teleconference, the Spaniard spoke for multiple minutes on the Spanish-flavored dinner, which famed chef Jose Andres assisted on and will feature six tapas, a first-course salad, two options for the main course and a dessert. Below is a complete look at it all. Below that are a few of the 1,000 words Rahm chose to describe the grub. 

— “Then it’s chistorra, which I guess is spicy Basque chorizo. I don’t even know how to explain it, to be honest. It’s wrapped in potato. That was José’s doing. I don’t know exactly what he means. I’m going to trust him on that one. But if you want to look it up, it’s a type of chorizo that’s a little spicy. It’s usually served in similar serving sizes. I love chorizo that has a kick and spice to it, so that’s why we went with that one.”

 — “Then we have scrambled eggs with what would be some mushrooms. It’s not really mushrooms. I don’t know how to translate, and I don’t even know what he has written here. I can’t even translate it myself. It’s just scrambled eggs with mushrooms but not really mushrooms. It’s a little bit different. From the same family, though.”

— “Then main course would be a salad, and then you have two options. It will be turbot fish with white asparagus. It’s a white fish, very local from where I come from, which actually most common is cod or sea bass, but I don’t like cod so I refuse to have something I don’t like at my dinner.

“Then finally, it would be what in northern Spain is known as chuleton, which is basically a ribeye that is seared on basically a regular grill with a bit of coal, basically smoked and seared. Usually traditionally they will basically serve it to you already cut up and then you have a hot plate that you can cook it up to your temperature. Most people in northern Spain go about as much as medium rare. If you go past that, you’re going to get a weird look just because that’s how we are. Very proud people of what we do, and meat usually is high quality.”

— “Then dessert, the translation from Spanish, which is milhojas, would be 1,000 leaves. It’s basically a puff pastry with custard and just very little layers. It was basically Kelley and I’s wedding cake. It varies a little bit where you’re doing it in Spain, but it’s absolutely one of my favorites.”

Sounds great.

Sounds. 

It’s fair to say that unless you’re an extreme foodie, you maybe haven’t heard of an item or two on the menu. Of course, there’s also something to be said for trying new things. That variety is the spice of life and all that.    

DJ, it seems, is a subscriber to the thought.

No, Rahm’s meal doesn’t contain well-known, American-based items such as the cheeseburger sliders that the 2022 winner, Scottie Scheffler, served last year, or the pigs in a blanket that Johnson, the 2020 winner, served in 2021. 

But yes, Johnson sounds like he’s going to eat and eat well — even if, well, he can’t tell you all that he’s consuming. Johnson can be described as a simple soul, and in a very DJ manner, his feelings were shared about Rahm’s meal during a recent teleconference for Johnson’s LIV Golf series, with the thought captured by Golf Digest’s Christopher Powers. 

“I have seen the menu. I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic,” Johnson said. 

“I don’t know what a lot of it is. I did know the ham, obviously from playing in Spain last year. I ate a lot of the ham, so I know that’s going to be great. 

“I love Spanish food, I’m just not that familiar with it. But I can imagine it’s going to be great.”

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

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