At PGA Champions Dinner, a hilarious roast and a ‘relaxed’ Rory McIlroy

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Champions Dinner before the PGA Championship is an intimate affair celebrating the player who most recently hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy.

Xander Schauffele, who finally shed the moniker of “best player to never win a major” last year at Valhalla, took little ownership of shaping his meal this year at Quail Hollow Club. Instead, Schauffele focused on the after-dinner party favors.

“The cigars I had input on,” Schauffele said on Tuesday at Quail Hollow ahead of the 2025 PGA Championship. “I feel like I’ve been here more than five times for sure, maybe six times, seven times. The food’s always been amazing. The chefs here do a great job.

“The only thing I said was sort of steak — and I didn’t even look at the menu, to be completely honest. I just trusted what they had. I knew they’d do a good job.”

Schauffele’s menu started with several appetizers, including clam shooters and steak-and-bleu cheese crostini, leading into a main course of wagyu New York strip steak (with more bleu cheese!), some prawns that were a late addition and a banana split dessert.

Schauffele’s meal was impeccable, according to 2008 champion Padraig Harrington. He added the past winners entered the evening with just one concern: yep, all that bleu cheese.

“There wasn’t [too much] at all,” Harrington told GOLF.com. “It was all on the side. I wouldn’t be a bleu cheese person, but, no, it was all on the side, so I didn’t eat any bleu cheese.

Harrington said he’s also not “a salad person” but that the wagyu beef and prawns were “right up my street.”

Schauffele seemingly got wind of the bleu cheese barrage, signaling Tuesday that an audible was in the works.

“I saw a lot of bleu cheese on there,” Schauffele said. “I think we’re kind of tweaking it a little bit, from the last of my knowledge, or making it a little bit more customized; you can have some on or not because it’s sort of really strong, you either like it or you don’t thing.”

While Harrington appreciates the fine cuisine, he said the company is what makes the dinners worth attending. As is the case at the more renowned Masters Champions Dinner, the PGA’s version is a time for legends to share stories, relive past victories and jab some of their fellow champions.

On Tuesday night’s roasting menu was Lanny Wadkins, who lost to Larry Nelson in a playoff at the 1987 PGA Championship at PGA National.

“You don’t always know what’s going on in other players’ minds, and at something like this, guys are a bit more relaxed, and the older guys are a bit more relaxed,” Harrington said. “Larry Nelson is telling a story about his win at PGA National, and it happened to be Lanny Wadkins he beat in a playoff.

“The way Larry was telling the story, it was winding up Lanny because he’s saying he changed his irons four times and brought two putters to the course and all sorts of crazy things were going on. Lanny is sitting there like, ‘I can’t believe this. Don’t tell me that.'”

Among the other attendees was two-time PGA champion and recent Masters winner Rory McIlroy.

Harrington played a practice round at Quail Hollow with McIlroy on Tuesday and can attest to the different vibe coming from the Northern Irishman now that he has completed the career Grand Slam.

“Rory was one of the last to leave the dinner,” Harrington said. “He’s very relaxed.”

As for those cigars? Schauffele said he might pocket some for later, and Harrington said he didn’t partake.

No word on whether that freed up McIlroy to snag a few should this week end with his sixth major victory.