Iss. #234 | A Bottomless Buffet of Golf & Food Drops

Iss. #234 | A Bottomless Buffet of Golf & Food Drops

"I won't tell too much... I feel like I don't have a word in my vocabulary to describe it properly." - Tennis star, Casper Ruud on playing Augusta National or... me attempting to describe the kind of physical, mental, and emotional whirlwind that is raising an infant and a toddler to my friends considering having their second.

 

Welcome to Breakfast Balls Foodie week! 

THE MENU DROP WE ALL WAIT FOR
I couldn't imagine starting Foodie week off with any other content than my favorite news drop of the year—the Masters Club Dinner Menu.
 
Scottie gets another crack at it with his Texas-inspired spread—featuring a few tweaks from last time.
 
APPETIZERS
Scottie-style sliders and Firecracker Shrimp are back! Scottie-style, of course, meaning that there are fries placed directly on top of the burgers. It's a bit of a Texas style reimagining of the infamous San Diego style burritos which also include fries inside.
 
And for a completely unpaid shout-out to one of my favorite fast casual restaurants, Kebab Shop. Which is a mediterranean wrap place that will throw fries right inside the lightly fire-charred flatbread wrap alongside some delicious carved meats. (There's no chance I make it through this week's issue without buckets of snacks on the side—starving right now.)
 
New to the fold is a Scheffler family favorite—Papa Scheff's Meatball and Ravioli Bites. This dish was made famous as the culprit of Scottie's hand injury earlier this season. Apparently they were making the ravioli at the Airbnb when he used a wine glass to cut the dough... thus breaking the glass and cutting his hand bad. (One of my more intense quirks is a paralyzing fear of broken glass—and washing/using wine glasses at our house is like I'm transferring radioactive material. Easyyyyyyyyy now...)
 
FIRST COURSE
Tortilla soup is OUT. Texas-style chili is IN.
 
Reason here is pretty simple... and I'll leave this section of the PGA Tour menu release un-edited...
 
The tortilla soup made headlines when 1973 champion Tommy Aaron described it as “spicy as hell” and 1979 winner Fuzzy Zoeller said, “I about gagged.” Three-time champion Nick Faldo said he could only tolerate a single spoonful, while 1988 winner Sandy Lyle said he needed to swab his forehead because it made him sweat.
 
A picky bunch.
 
MAIN COURSE
Scottie's running it back with ribeye and redfish. What is redfish, you ask? Similar to a lake trout, light, slightly sweet—and probably BOMB when it's blackened.
 
Only tweak here is a bit of a classing up of the previous version's french fries to a chipotle lime sweet potato. Which I will assume is another chance for Scottie to sneak in a little extra heat for the Fuzzy Zoellers in the crowd.
 
DESSERT
Don't mess with Texas... or a warm chocolate chip skillet cookie. 

 

LIV has their dinners, too!

ANYTHING YOU CAN DO, WE CAN DO—A VERSION OF
In the interest of equal coverage, I will also point out that a week or two back, LIV Singapore also held a Champions dinner for Brooks Koepka with the menu above.
 
And reports are that every past champion was able to attend! So you can only imagine the raucous scene when Brooks and Talor Gooch arrived to eat with... each other? All Champions traditions have to start somewhere though.
 
The menu overall certainly went the high brow route to Scottie's Texas-style affair—caviar definitely didn't make the cut in Augusta.
 
That said, this Signapore noodle dish Brooks added looks incredible. Homemade green chili pickles?? Yep!
 
The most surprising pick goes to the Guinness Beer as the only wine alternative. Has to be a Brooks favorite.

 

At-home Augusta spreads get an upgrade

AZAAAAALEA—YOU'RE BREAKING MY HEART
Little Simon and Garfunkel reference on a Friday for ya. (Brief aside, Jack has gotten super into The Beatles recently as they play them during dance time at school. Which has been a game changer for car rides as I finally have another option beyond "Lightning McQueen song" aka Real Gone from Cars and "Maui time" aka You're Welcome from Moana. I think Simon and Garfunkel could be my next frontier with him—peppy, energetic, catchy. Wish me luck.)
 
The Masters dropped their Goldbelly meal kits this past week—allowing you and your at-home Masters watching parties to get a taste of Augusta too. New this year was an Azalea cocktail kit with a premixed cocktail bottle and Masters-branded cups, swizzle sticks and shot glass.

As you might imagine, it sold out in no time. But I am 100% locking in next season because while my days of keeping my empty beer boxes from college as wall decor are long gone... an empty Azalea bottle on the home bar setup would be pretty bada$$.
 

 

Come. Watch with me.

FULL SWING S3: EPISODE 4 THOUGHTS
A refreshing peek into the world of the caddie this week that I found super interesting and a welcome change of pace compared to the player-focused storylines thus far.
 
EPISODE TITLE:
Carrying the Burden
 
TAKEAWAY 1—SAHITH:
Let's all take a moment at the top for "Sahith Swag." The fits he was rocking during his youth golf days are unmatched. Long sleeve tees with the multi-color striped polos over the top is iconic. And I love the idea that some day he launches his own apparel company like Tiger—and similar to how they released Tiger's iconic looks—Sahith drops his age 11 junior championship set.
 
The other standout moment from his story was Papa Theegala as the "Birthday King." I hope that it's an annual tradition of theirs for him to wear the Birthday King sash. 
 
Plus, did anyone catch the girlfriend handing over a little Louis Vuitton to Papa as her gift?? Okkkayyyyyyyyyy. That's how you play the game right there.
 
And then the projection screen carousel of pictures in the family room is such an OG move. You don't see the slideshow anymore at family gatherings/parties. If it wasn't on social, then people don't care. Sad.
 
TAKEAWAY 2—CADDIES AT LARGE:
I am fascinated by the prep caddies put into each tournament. We only caught a glimpse of Sahith's caddie patrolling the grounds but I could definitely see a full episode with caddies taking us through exactly how they scout a course.
 
When do they find time to go? Do they brings a handful of clubs to see how certain grass/layouts react? Do they play a full round or just walk themselves? Is it super secretive between other caddies or do they form little collectives that break down courses together?
 

TAKEAWAY 3—TED SCOTT:

Last season, projections are that Ted won around $5.3 million. Which would place him in the top 20 earners... AMONG PLAYERS.

Mind-boggling numbers but the flip side is pretty rough and would've been an equally compelling story—the caddies of the middle/bottom tier players and how they're able to scrape by when their players are struggling.

Do they earn base salaries on top of the "commissions"?

Still some meat left on that bone for future seasons I think.

EPISODE GRADE:

B

Another solid but unspectacular episode. I respect the approach this year of creating these 1v1 competing storylines framed by whatever tournament that they squared off in. But they keep falling flat to me because we don't hear many clips of the players talking about competing with one another.

Would have loved some more insight into what Scottie thinks of Sahith... or vice versa. Or even bring the caddies in to the mix and hear more about what they respect in one another.
— Scott Fluhler
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