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00:00I'm sure you've got so many memories from that event.
00:03Do you typically sit next to the Texans?
00:05What's the seating chart look like?
00:07And what's been your favorite champion's dinner of all the years you've gone?
00:12I'll tell you, Smiley, it's such an honor to be in that room and to see everybody together.
00:18You know, someone told me yesterday that this is one of the few times where all living Masters champions will be together.
00:28Oh, wow.
00:28Well, that'll be a special occasion.
00:30You know, Gary Player is 90.
00:33He's almost 90.
00:34Wouldn't be able to tell.
00:35No.
00:37And Jack is up there, but they are our two leaders.
00:41It's hard for me to, when I look at them, I say, well, Arnold should be here.
00:48Arnold Palmer should be here.
00:49And they've been our trio of leaders forever in that room.
00:53Um, it's a very, very special fraternity.
01:02And it's, it's, uh, uh, in some ways it's one of the most exclusive clubs that you can imagine.
01:10It's been started by Ben Hogan in 1952.
01:13Uh, it was a very simple letter he wrote to the champion.
01:18He said, it might be nice for us to get together for just a dinner.
01:21Cool.
01:22And it, and it grew from there.
01:24Uh, Ben Hogan, that was 1952 was the first one.
01:31And it was ironic that later on, Byron Nelson became sort of the host of the dinner.
01:39Um, he was very close to Clifford Roberts.
01:42Mr. Roberts liked Byron a lot.
01:44And not that he didn't like Mr. Hogan, but, uh, he carried on that tradition of sort of leading the, the dinner.
01:53And I'll never forget this.
01:54Uh, I was sending it home one day, it was Mr. Nelson gotten way up there and he said, Ben, Byron Nelson here, um, I'm unable to come to the Masters this year.
02:10My health just won't let me do it.
02:12And he said, I want you to take over, uh, as, as the host of the dinner.
02:17I'm not able to come over there.
02:20And I literally dropped the, I dropped the phone.
02:23He said, what happened?
02:24I said, well, Mr. Nelson, I dropped the phone.
02:27And he said, no, you, you love history and you love this place.
02:31He said, I want you to lead it off, keep it light and keep it moving.
02:35And I, that was, that's what's happened.
02:37It's pretty cool.
02:38Well, we're going to definitely get into your, you know, your win in 1984, 1995, but quickly talking about the champions dinner in 1985.
02:46After your win in 84, were there nerves going into that dinner about what to choose on the menu and just speaking to that whole fraternity for the first time?
02:56Uh, I've, I've heard players, you know, feel, you know, like this was more nerve wracking than actually, you know, finishing out on 18.
03:04Well, it's, uh, my first year that I won 1984, uh, I had to order, uh, some food off the menu, the club menu.
03:14And then it changed.
03:15Then you could, they said, well, you can, you can have a meal that you wanted to design.
03:22So it really started changing after that.
03:24Um, uh, I think it was, let's see, 1984, um, Craig Stadler won the following year and he, he had a different menu, but we've had so many exotic menus.
03:40I mean, we've had a Vijay Singh, had a Fijian menu.
03:45What's been your favorite food that you've had?
03:47Like one that stands out.
03:47All I know who it was, it was Sandy Lyle.
03:49Sandy Lyle won in 85 and he, he brought in, of course, haggis from Scotland.
03:55Oh, God.
03:56I mean, it was, it was the whole deal too.
04:00They brought in the scabbard.
04:01Oh, man.
04:02Was it any good?
04:03Cut the thing.
04:04It was terrible.
04:05It just stunk up the place, I imagine.
04:08Oh, my God.
04:10But we've had, uh, Adam Scott brought in what was called Botany Bay Bugs from Australia.
04:18Oh.
04:18They're a little shrimp.
04:19Okay.
04:20Did you eat them?
04:21Uh, yeah, I did.
04:22So it's like a little crawfish.
04:23Matsuyama had a beautiful Japanese meal.
04:26That's what Joran always said, that was his favorite one.
04:28It was exceptional.
04:30Mm-hmm.
04:31Oh.
04:32I had, uh, my last one was Salt Lake Barbecue from Austin, Texas.
04:38It was good.
04:39I've had that.
04:40It's fantastic.
04:41Well, you got off to such a hot start in your amateur career.
04:45You won three national championships at Texas, individual titles.
04:49And I found it interesting that you won your first time on the PGA Tour.
04:53Actually, we just got done with the San Antonio event this past week.
04:58So that was your first win following week.
05:00You runner-up.
05:01So you get off to this hot start where, you know, you probably just feel so invincible.
05:06It was amazing.
05:07It was a heck of a time.
05:09I had been playing well.
05:11Um, and, um, I got out of the qualifying at the school.
05:18We all had to qualify back then.
05:21And I was playing well, and somehow I won that tournament there in San Antonio.
05:26And then we went to Pinehurst for the World Open.
05:29Eight rounds.
05:30Eight rounds at Pinehurst.
05:33And, uh, Miller Barber beat me.
05:35And, uh, I finished runner-up.
05:38And, uh, you know, I, I had, luckily I'd played in some pro tournaments as an amateur.
05:44I got some exemptions, you know, and champions in Houston and Dallas and places.
05:50And I'm, and I'd played some U.S. Opens.
05:53So I started to know the pros and I've started, you know, a little more comfortable with them.
06:00That's good.
06:00Uh, but, uh, you know, a lot of them, uh, became great friends.
06:06You know, a lot of them called me a little punk.
06:08You know, there are little punks here, you know.
06:10Not quite gentle Ben.
06:12A little punk.
06:13But, but no, it was, it was, it was just fun.