Tapas, ribeye steak and puff pastry cake: Jon Rahm injects Basque flair into Masters champions menu

Jon Rahm will be taking fellow green jacket winners on a culinary trip to the Basque Country when he hosts his Masters Champions Dinner next month.

Jon Rahm will be taking fellow green jacket winners on a culinary trip to the Basque Country when he hosts his Masters Champions Dinner next month. Tuesday saw the Spaniard give an extensive rundown of his carefully curated menu for the prestigious banquet at Augusta National’s clubhouse on April 9, an annual tradition – kickstarted by Ben Hogan in 1952 – staged on the eve of the major where the reigning victor decides what will be served to a table of previous champions. Crafted with the help of Spanish chef and restaurateur José Andrés, Rahm’s menu is a love letter to the Basque territories in the north of his country. Born in Barrika, a town north of Bilbao in the region’s Biscay province, the world No. 3 is hoping his home flavors will win over his fellow winners. “I wanted to put a little bit of my essence into it, and I’m hoping they really like it,” Rahm told reporters in a Tuesday press conference. “It should be quite special, and they’re going to try a few things that they maybe haven’t seen before that are really quite tasty.” Teeing off proceedings are pintxos – the Basque’s answer to tapas. The small plates range from meats – Iberian ham (jamón), cured pork loin (lomo) and spicy Basque chorizo (chistorra) wrapped in potato – to a local Idiázabal cheese with black truffle, creamy chicken croquettes (croquetas) and a traditional Spanish potato omelette (tortilla).