The Masters Champions Dinner operates by unwritten rules. Every champion in the room understands them. There are no posted guidelines. You do not sit near Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus. You do not linger in another player’s section. And you do not ask Jordan Spieth to save you a seat. Scottie Scheffler confirmed that last part himself at Bay Hill this week.

“There’s a little protocol,” Scheffler said, reminiscing about the 2024 Champions Dinner. “Guys have, like, I would say, sections where they sit. But you move around a little bit. There are no necessarily assigned seats, but I’m definitely not going to go sit in the area where Tiger and Jack sit. Like, there are spots where you kind of feel you’ll naturally flow into.”

“Zach and Jordan always sat next to each other. 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,” Scheffler said, laughing. “So I kind of looked at Zach; I was like, ‘Hey, where are you sitting this year? And he told me, and he was nice and let me join him. But I definitely wasn’t going to ask Jordan for that because he would have messed with me.”

Every living Masters champion sits at one large rectangular table. There are no assigned seats except for the host at the head. Senior champions usually sit first, and the same groups form each year. Woods and Nicklaus have 21 majors between them and over seventy years at Augusta. Their section of the table carries its own weight.

Spieth, the 2015 champion, and Zach Johnson, the 2007 winner, always sit together. Scheffler was aware of this. He also knew which one to ask for a seat. Scheffler hosted the dinner in 2023 and did so again in 2025 after his back-to-back wins. In the year between, he attended as a guest. That meant he had to find his own seat. The obvious choice, asking fellow Texas alumnus Jordan Spieth, was not without risk.

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Scheffler is not alone in recognizing the pattern. Spieth has a reputation on tour for taking pranks to their limit. At Pebble Beach, he left his caddie, Michael Greller, without a phone, forcing him to hitchhike back to the course. Greller later said it was one of the moments he was most upset with Spieth. Spieth and Greller also carried out a long-running FaceTime prank on Justin Thomas at Riviera’s 15th hole, referencing a college match Spieth had won. Eventually, Thomas stopped responding. The approach is clear. Scheffler understood it.

The quotes show that the Champions Dinner is more than a formal event. Behind Augusta’s traditions, the room has its own rules, and the players are not afraid to enforce them.

Nick Faldo, Bubba Watson, and the Champions Dinner’s long history of honest opinions

In 2015, Bubba Watson hosted the Champions Dinner and served a menu that drew criticism from Nick Faldo, who compared it to a Chuck E. Cheese dinner and a Happy Meal. Adam Scott, not impressed with the options, chose to order from Augusta National’s regular menu. Reports at the time noted that Watson had a full year to prepare, and the reaction from the past champions made their opinions clear.

There are unwritten rules at the Champions Dinner. The jokes, the seating arrangements, and the boundaries around certain chairs are not documented, but everyone in the room understands them. These dynamics are communicated through press conferences, brief looks, and the shared understanding among those who have earned their place at the table.

Scheffler will not be responsible for the seating arrangements this April. He has already hosted twice, and now the responsibility shifts to another champion. Spieth is next in line, ready to take his place.