1 week Ago By Ben Crawford
Two-time Masters champion Scottie Scheffler radiated nothing but admiration during his interview with CBS's Amanda Balionis about the storied figures who graced his Champions Dinner. The 28-year-old has topped golf's leaderboards since 2023 and scored another win at Augusta National a year ago to claim his second green jacket. American Scheffler was tasked with the honour of hosting the annual Champions Dinner for his exploits.
The event is legendary, inviting all past champions to a feast chosen by the holder . Scheffler's selection, which included cheeseburger sliders and Texas-style chilli, seemed to be a hit. Speaking to Balionis, his reverence for the gathered legends, such as Jack Nicklaus , Nick Faldo , Fred Couples , and Gary Player , shone through as he acknowledged the gravity of their shared history.
"It was a lot of fun," Scheffler remarked to Balionis on CBS when quizzed on the evening festivities. "The food was really good. I think it got some good reviews.
We had fun. It's always special getting that group of guys together and having some fun and enjoying each other's company, and it was a good time." With expectations and traditions to uphold, the golf star had also been given the floor to deliver a speech.
Despite it being his second time around, Scheffler confessed to feeling the pressure, seized by the moment to express gratitude to the very giants whose footsteps he follows. "I mean, it was still quite stressful," Scheffler admitted. "To be honest with you, I kind of forgot about the speech, and I was sitting down and was like, 'Oh my gosh, I've got to say some words'.
It's pretty rare to ever be able to sit in there and say something to some legends of the game of golf, and so one of the things that was important to me - I wanted to thank the older guys that weren't playing in the tournament for their contributions. "Not only Augusta National and the Masters, but to the game of golf as well. It was a fun night.
It's funny, when I was in school you're always taught when you do public speaking, you look across the room, so I did. I made the mistake of making eye contact with too many people as well!" Out of the 35 living Masters champions, 32 were present to witness Scheffler at the honourable gathering, with Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh absent due to injuries, as well as Sandy Lyle. The presence of ravioli on the dinner menu specifically turned heads.
This dish played a part in a past misfortune for Scheffler, who injured himself preparing it over Christmas using a wine bottle instead of a proper rolling pin, resulting in the bottle breaking and injuring his hand. Fielding questions about if the choice was a nod to the incident, Scheffler replied with humour: "I mean, maybe slightly. I do love raviolis, and my dad, growing up, the best food he made was his meatballs, so I would always love it if I could have the raviolis with the meatballs.
"It is one of my favorite foods. But, maybe slightly tongue-in-cheek. It was really important to have my dad involved this year, and we got a lot of food locally in Dallas.
So, it was definitely a little bit of an ode to the people that have helped me along the way. It was very special.".
