Masters sandwiches: egg salad vs. pimento cheese

AUGUSTA, Ga. - They are as iconic on the hallowed grounds of the Augusta National Golf Club as the dogwoods and the azaleas.  They are as well known to Masters patrons as Magnolia Lane, Butler Cabin, and the green jacket itself. They are a major part of the experience of the first major of the year, but despite their fame and notoriety, not everyone is in agreement. 

A brewing Masters controversy?  Nah. 

A good natured, annual debate that has patrons taking sides?  Absolutely.

In one corner, the Masters egg salad sandwich, and in another corner the Master pimento cheese sandwich.  Both are made fresh daily, both sell for an incredibly affordable $1.50, and both are a huge part of Masters week in Augusta. 

Both are delicious and traditional, so when asked for a preference the logical answer is one (or more) of each.  But when forced to get off the proverbial sandwich fence and side with either camp egg salad or camp pimento cheese, Masters patrons became very opinionated, some even philosophical.

The bottom line, the results of our informal sandwich survey were inconclusive.  If it is your first, and perhaps your only Masters, then you owe it to yourself to try them both.  If you've been there, done that, and bought the golf shirt or the hat, then you should still probably try both every year (along with a Masters Club, a BBQ sandwich, etc.).

From a personal standpoint I will say this, I eat pimento cheese at various times throughout the year, but I haven't eaten egg salad other than at Augusta National since I began covering the Masters in 1999. 

It's a tradition unlike any other...the egg salad sandwich at the Masters.

For more information on the Masters, go to their website http://www.masters.com/index.html.