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Two-time Masters champion and world #1 golfer Scottie Scheffler is in Orlando this week for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, one of the PGA Tour’s nine signature events in the 2026 season. During his player’s press conference, Scottie was asked about the ceremonial Masters Champions Dinner.
The Masters Champions Dinner is arguably the most exclusive event in sports. The only way to to get a seat at the tables is to have won The Masters or be the Chairman of Augusta National. That’s it. Billionaires cannot buy their way inside. Either you have a green jacket from winning and get invited or you stand on the outside looking in like the rest of us.
Scottie Scheffler Demystifies The Masters Champions Dinner
In a clip that has gone viral over the past 24 hours, Scottie Scheffler was asked about the seating chart for the Masters Champions dinner. Mind you, little is known about the dinner outside of the menu and each year the attendees take a group photo that each of them autographs.
Are there customary speeches? Who gives them? Do they have a secret handshake? Who drinks the most? Does anyone give that year’s champion flack for their menu choices if they disagree with the selections? We don’t know. We will never know.
But we now know how the seating works thanks to Scottie Scheffler, and we know that he avoids fellow Texan Jordan Spieth like the plague at this dinner because Jordan would prank him like Shooter McGavin sending Happy Gilmore to the 9th green at 9 O’Clock.
Here is what Scottie had to say about hosting the dinner for the first time:
Scottie said when you are hosting the Masters Champions Dinner for the first time “you don’t know what to expect.” Adding “the only thing I knew is where I was going to sit. That’s basically the only thing I knew, you know, sitting next to Mr. Krenshaw and the Chairman.”
Scottie said he was “really nervous” because he is “not really a super social guy to begin with.” But says he got to the dinner early because he had no idea what to expect. He said it’s really fun to get to see the champions he does not get to see on a regular basis, aka ‘the older guys.’
How Does Seating Work?
Aside from Scottie Scheffler knowing he would sit next to Krenshaw and Fred, Scottie said “there’s a little protocol.” He says “guys kind of have sections where they sit, but you know, move around a little bit. There’s not necessarily assigned seats but I’m definitely not going to go sit in the area where Jack and Tiger sit.”
Adding “there’s kind of spots where you kind of feel you’ll naturally flow into.”
Scheffler then gets asked if he knew where to sit in ’24. He responded “yeah, so Zach and Jordan always sit together. And I definitely didn’t ask Jordan to sit by him because he would have done something to make sure that I didn’t have a place to sit. And so I kind of looked at Zach and I was like ‘hey, where are you sitting this year?’ and he told me, he was nice, so he let me join him. But I definitely wasn’t going to ask Jordan because he would have messed with me.”
Will that change going forward? Scottie is a 4-time Major Champion and 2-time winner of The Masters. He is the favorite to win the 2026 Masters. How many green jackets does a man have to win in order to feel welcome at the table with Jack and Tiger? That’s a question I’ll be pondering for most of today.
For those wondering, Scottie served the same menu at his second Masters Champions Dinner as he did at his first, identical in 2023 and 2025. His menu was equal parts ‘Texas’ and ‘Applebee’s’ in a way you’d be a fool not to love:
Served in Honor of Mr. Scottie Scheffler. #themasters pic.twitter.com/AbpHBJ4MgN
— The Masters (@TheMasters) March 15, 2023
My only question is, who among them was ordering redfish over steak???