Word is getting out about the nutritional benefits of elk meat. In fact, if you ask Rory McIlroy, winner of the 2025 Masters golf tournament, he may call it the meal of champions.
“I’ve been into wild game recently so venison, elk, stuff like that,” McIlroy told Today. “That sort of fueled this run so maybe something like that.”
McIlroy made that statement after being asked about the menu he will plan at the 2026 Masters dinner, an honor reserved for the winner of the 2025 tournament.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Nutrient Database, elk is extremely high in protein and low in fat, ranking ahead of pork, lamb, whitetail deer, pronghorn antelope, chicken, pheasant and duck. Of the listed species, only moose and wild turkey have a lower fat content but both of those trail elk in protein percentage.
McIlroy won the 2025 Masters in a thrilling playoff over Justin Rose. In doing so, he became just the sixth golfer in history to complete the career Grand Slam of winning the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and the (British) Open Championship, joining Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Gene Sarazen and Tiger Woods.
(Photo/graphic credit: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation/USDA Nutrient Database)