Rory McIlroy finally got his Masters moment last year after coming close so many times. Now, as the defending champion, he gets to host the Champions Dinner at Augusta. The Champions Dinner is held every year on the Tuesday of Masters week, with the defending champion choosing the menu.

Ahead of this year’s event, he has shared the menu for Tuesday night, putting together a list of dishes that reflect his own taste and background.

“It was just from the heart and from personal experience, and I guess a little bit of nostalgia for me of what I wanted to serve,” McIlroy said.

He has picked four starters: bacon wrapped dates, grilled elk sliders, rock shrimp tempura and peach with ricotta flatbread. The dates come from something his mother used to make. The flatbread brings in a local Georgia touch. He also said he ate a lot of elk before last year’s Masters which is why it’s on the menu.

For the first course, he went with yellowfin tuna carpaccio, a dish he often orders at Le Bernardin in New York.

“It’s a really simple dish, but every time we go to that restaurant, that’s the one thing that I have to have. I can sort of change up everything else in my order but that tuna carpaccio is the one that stays. So that’s a fun one that the club worked with me on as well. They went up to the restaurant and worked with the chefs, and made sure; that they obviously wanted to get it right for the night, so that’s really cool,” Rory McIlroy said.

For the main course, there will be a choice between wagyu filet mignon and seared salmon. The sides include Irish champ, brussels sprouts, glazed carrots and onion rings. McIlroy said the champ is something he grew up eating. Dessert will be sticky toffee pudding.

He has also picked the wines, including a 2015 Salon Brut champagne, a 2022 Domaine Leflaive Batard Montrachet, a 1990 Chateau Lafite Rothschild and a 1989 Chateau D’Yquem. The Lafite is the same wine he had after winning the Masters, while the dessert wine is from his birth year.

Rory McIlroy earned the chance to host the dinner after beating Justin Rose in a playoff last year to win his first green jacket.

How Rory McIlroy handled the final round at Augusta

Rory McIlroy’s win last year was not straightforward, and he admitted that himself while looking back at the final round.

He had waited years for that moment. After the 2011 collapse and several close calls, he finally got it done by beating Justin Rose in a playoff and completing the career Grand Slam.

But during that final round, things almost slipped again. Rory McIlroy said the turning point came when he changed his approach midway through the round.

“The first time that my mindset or my tactics went a little bit defensive, like trying to protect the lead, that’s when I got into trouble,” Rory McIlroy said. “Obviously what happened on 13 (double bogey) and on 14 (bogey), and when I got to 15, again, I needed to be aggressive. I needed to make a birdie again, and I was able to do it. So there’s probably a lesson in there somewhere of not taking your foot off the gas.

I thought I was sort of doing the smart thing by playing 13 as a three-shotter and trying to protect the lead that I built. But in hindsight, everything that went well for me that day and that week was when I played aggressively, when I went for my shots. That’s probably the lesson to learn.”

He had started the round well and built momentum early, but once he tried to play safe, it backfired. The mistakes on 13 and 14 put his lead under pressure. But he settled himself after that. Even with a bogey on the last hole he got it done in the playoff with a birdie.

He finished the week at 11 under with rounds of 72, 66, 66 and 73. There were a few mistakes but he made enough birdies and eagles to stay ahead. For him, it came down to one thing. He played his best golf when he stayed aggressive.