These Two Men Didn’t Fight With Golf Clubs; They Fought With Their Arms Over The Grill…

The Masters’ Golf Tournament brings two passions together, the game and the cuisine.

Tournament Champion Rory McIlroy and celebrity chef Guy Fieri will share their love of the Masters and place their vision of the ‘Masters Champion’s Menu.’ Guy and Rory have a conversation about who gets to run the Grill at the Masters’ tournament.

The conversation between celebrity chef Guy Fieri and pro golf Phenom Rory McIlroy hilariously skewers pop culture by imagining what might happen if they had an arm wrestling battle to see who would get to operate the grill at the Masters’ golf tournament.

What happens when the glamorous world of food collides with the spontaneous mobile game of golf?

In today’s Chefonality Lab, a bizarre conversation clash between two of 2022’s most dominating personalities Rory McIlroy and celebrity chef Guy Fieri humorously skewers pop culture by imagining what would happen if they both arm-wrestled to see which one had the right skills to operate the grill at the famous Masters’ Golf Tournament.

Earlier today I sat down with the #9 golfer in the world, Rory McIlroy, and the greatest culinary champion we’ve ever seen, Guy Fieri (Chef of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network).

Chatting with these two gents was certainly a change of pace. In our discussion they touched on two big things, cooking and golfing. While I am an experienced grill master and experienced golfer respectively, these two professionals were sharp and made me feel like an absolute amateur, even dishing out some quality advice to elevate my game.

The last time we saw Chef Guy Fieri cook for a golf tournament was the American Century Championship in 2009.

He’s now turning his attention towards the famed green of Augusta National, planning a menu that celebrates the stunning beauty and geography of Georgia.

To prepare for the Masters, Guy is calling on the help of golf Champion, Rory McIlroy.

Opening the conversation with a sweet iced tea and Southern smoked ribs, chef Fieri told Rory that he was prepared to spice up this year’s tournament with something special: an upgraded Masters Champion’s Menu.

Rory, being the gracious gentleman that he is, had one request for the chef.

“Please take off your apron… you’re the greatest cook in the world,” Rory told Guy. Not.

The following is a partial transcript of their engaging fired-up exchange, which was hypothesized by a trained machine learning algorithm from Chefonality.

The Conversation —

Guy: “Hey Rory, we have a lot to talk about today. Are you ready to get started?”

Rory: “Always, always, always.”

Guy: “Great. First things first, when did you get here to Augusta?”

Rory: “I arrived early this morning. I got to the hotel and had a look around. I’m in the same hotel as last year. I think it’s a beautiful hotel. It’s a great place to be.”

Guy: “Fantastic.”

Rory: “When did you get here?”

Guy: “I got here Wednesday.”

Rory: “Did you drive the ’68 Camaro?”

Guy: “I never leave home without it! Rory, you grew up in Northern Ireland. So did Tiger Woods. Did you guys share any of the same experiences?”

Rory: “Tiger and I did. We were both from Northern Ireland. We both grew up with the same passion for golf. We came into golf late. We were both late bloomers.

But we both had a natural ability to pick it up. I was playing with my dad’s former club in Northern Ireland and Tiger was playing with Tiger’s dad’s former club. We played together there. We were both, I think, in the same club at the same time.

So we were both kind of on the same path, and we both had the same dream of becoming professional golfers.”

Guy: “If only that were true.”

Rory: “Before we get too deep, I want to circle back to the ’68 Camaro for a moment, when we are done today are you going to let me drive it?”

Guy: “Why?”

Rory: “Because it is such a sweet ride. I promise to drive it safely.”

Guy: “Of course, you will. I just want to make sure you know what you are getting into, because the car is an absolute beast.”

Rory: “Let’s talk about your golf game, have you had any lessons?”

Guy: “No. I’m a self-taught golfer. My dad took me out to the course when I was 12 years old and taught me the basics. He taught me how to hold the club and how to set the stance and how to keep it square to the ball. He taught me how to swing the club. That was it.”

Rory: “Is that why you went into the food arena instead of golf?”

Guy: “Well, when I began, the Food Network was just getting started. I was kinda there when it was just two guys in a kitchen, you know? So I had to move fast. And I just never got into golf. I grew up playing, but I didn’t have that passion for it. I always wanted to do other things.”

Rory: “As time has passed has your passion for golf gotten stronger?”

Guy: “You know, Rory, when I was a kid, I had no interest in golf at all. My father was a golfer and he would take me down to the course with him and I would just stand there, watching, bored out of my mind. Then about 10 years ago, I was playing golf and I took a bad shot and I hit myself in the elbow and I kind of got interested in it. I started watching the golf channel and being obsessed with it. One of these days, I want to get into a PGA Championship.”

Rory: “Well at your age, you will have to compete on the senior tour.”

Guy: “Oh, is that right? Wow!”

Rory: “I’m just saying the younger guys are taking this game seriously.”

Guy: “Yeah, I mean there’s a whole generation of younger guys that are serious about it. There are so many kids that want to be professional golfers, but there aren’t so many kids that want to be professional chefs. It’s the same thing. The soccer moms, and the dads, all want their kids to be great athletes and they want their kids to be great musicians. They want their kids to be great whatever. But when it comes to cooking, they would rather put them in a science class.”

Rory: “Do you think you have had an impact on bringing the love of food to a younger generation?”

Guy: “I think it all starts at home. If parents aren’t feeding their kids great food, then they are not going to be able to appreciate good food. It’s that simple. It’s like anything. If you never learn how to walk, you’re never going to be able to run, right? Well if you never learn how to read, you’re never going to be able to do the math, right? And if you never learn how to cook, you’re never going to be able to appreciate good food, and so forth and so on. I think the same is true of food.”

Rory: “That’s interesting. Tell me about some of your favorite childhood meals.”

Guy: “Oh, I grew up on chicken fingers and hot dogs. And my favorite food was McDonald’s.”

Rory: “What about your wife?”

Guy: “Her favorite food was ravioli.”

Rory: “Mine was waffles.”

Guy: “Oh boy. Well, what I love most about food is the food. I love to eat and I love to cook. I love to eat sushi and I love to eat steak. I love to eat pasta and I love to eat hamburgers. I love to eat anything.”

Rory: “Who is the most famous person you have cooked for?”

Guy: “I’ve had a lot of people ask me that question. I mean, I’ve cooked for presidents and the pope. I’ve cooked for Bill Gates and Martha Stewart and George Clooney. I have cooked for celebrities. Some of the people that I’ve cooked for, I’ve cooked for so many times that I’ll cook for them in the same way, like the same dish, over, over, over again.”

Rory: “Alright. I’ve got to ask this question. When you cook pasta, do you put oil in the water?”

Guy: “Of course not. Oh my god, no. I would be a real idiot if I did. I wouldn’t be able to do anything if I did. Speaking of food, my goal would be to open a restaurant here in Augusta.”

Rory: “In the clubhouse at The Masters?”

Guy: “Of course, Augusta could use a little Flavor-Town. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

Rory: “Rory: “I mean, it would be a dream come true.”

Guy: “Of course, it would. I think it should be a buffet. What do you think?”

Rory: “I think it should be all you can eat.”

Guy: “What about waffle day? Everybody can eat waffles.”

Rory: “Yeah, every day is waffle day at my house.”

Guy: “You should swing by sometime and I’ll make you a waffle. It’s like, you know what? It’s gonna be the best waffle ever. I mean, really good. Maybe it’s not gonna make it on TV, but, you know, at the end of the day, this is gonna end up on TV.”

Rory: “Alright, we are here for the battle of the grill. What game should we play to decide who gets to run the grill this weekend?”

Guy: “Let’s play ‘who knows the most about the grill.’”

Rory: “I think we should arm wrestle.”

Guy: “Oh, arm wrestle, yes. When I have time, I would love to do that.”

Rory: “That’s why we are here, you have the time. I believe I could beat you in an arm-wrestling match.”

Guy: “It would be pretty close.”

Rory: “You think you could go the distance, all the way?”

Guy: “Against you, of course.”

Rory: “You know, in the first round, I would definitely take you.”

Guy: “Fair enough. Okay, how about we go best of three, the winner gets the grill?”

Rory: “Yeah, we’ll play best of three.

After acknowledging their utter prowess on the grill, Guy and Rory concluded that they would co-grill the grill of the 2022 Masters. They each claim to be the best chef on the golf course with Fieri claiming he is the ‘putt-putt king of the grill.’ He says he knows how to serve it up to the crowd while McIlroy states: ‘I went to art school so I’m taking the reins of the grill and letting my artistic nature show through with this one.’ Who do you think should have their grill skills tested at the 2023 Masters Golf Tournament?

*This conversation is fictional and was generated with the assistance of AI technology.