Masters Tournament winner Zach Johnson had it all figured out last year.

Along with the brass from his favorite restaurant -- Ruth's Chris Steakhouse -- Johnson had mapped out the meal he would serve at the Champions Dinner. There would be Iowa beef, of course, to honor his roots. And in a nod to his wife, Kim, there would be Amelia Island shrimp.

Johnson had heard that Vijay Singh used the owner of his favorite Thai restaurant in Atlanta to prepare his menu in 2001, so he assumed precedent had been established for outsourcing.

"They said no," Johnson said of Augusta National Golf Club's reaction to his plan. "We have to use their chefs."

So it was back to the drawing board, and the menu remains a work in progress with only a couple of weeks before his mid-March deadline. Surf and turf is about as concrete as it gets so far.

"We're trying to piece some things together and see how that works out," Johnson said Tuesday in a conference call. "I have a feeling it's going to be some Midwest food with some Florida flair."

Other than what he's going to feed his green-jacketed peers, here are a couple of other things Johnson had to say in an interview he hopes "to make a consistent part of my routine year-to-year."

l On last season: "2007 was certainly a pretty awesome year starting with our firstborn, and then obviously highlighted by our first win in a major. That being the Masters was a dream come true. So I'm looking forward to defending this year, and whatever comes along with that."

l On being a part of the Champions Dinner: "I've heard it's a pretty casual evening. They just kind of stand around and chat a little bit, more or less. I hear a lot of the veteran past champions, if you will, just kind of tell stories. If that's the case, I know I'm just going to be a fly on the wall, kind of a sponge, just soak it all in and listen. I think I'll probably have to say a piece, and that's a little nervewracking. Hope I don't screw it up. Considering the fraternity I'm in and the gentlemen that will be accompanying me, I'm excited. That's a lifetime dream right there and knowing that I'll be able to go back to that meal until -- well, whenever -- is pretty special."

l On Augusta National: "I think one of the hardest holes -- day in and day out -- is No. 4. There is no water. There is no hazard. ... But that front-left pin placement ... it's exceptionally difficult."