It has been a busy week for Rory McIlroy. He was in place at the annual Drive, Chip and Putt National Championship over the weekend to hand out prizes to young winners. He conducted some early Masters media duties. He has been preparing to host Tuesday night’s champions’ dinner, featuring elk sliders and yellowfin tuna carpaccio inspired by his favourite New York restaurant, where the admission ticket is a Green Jacket.
McIlroy returns to Augusta National as a hero, the man who conquered the grand-slam mountain, finally admitted into that exclusive club of great champions with Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Danny Willett. But he also returns with duties to undertake. When you come back the following year – and especially when you’re McIlroy – you are not so much a golfer as an ambassador for the uniquely cultish world of The Masters.
