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The 2023 renewal of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, US is now less than a week away. The action is set to begin early on Thursday morning local time, but you don’t have to wait quite that long to see the world’s best golfers get down to business.
On both Monday and Tuesday, players will be playing practice rounds, which UK viewers can watch live on Sky Sports Golf, so if you fancy checking in to see who looks in good shape, then you can.
Par-3 Contest
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On Wednesday, there’s the small matter of the yearly Par-3 contest. Every year, the day before the tournament begins, the players compete in a Par 3 competition, and this year will be no different.
First held in 1960 and won by the legendary Sam Snead, the Masters Par-3 contest at Augusta National has become known as a family event. It’s far from unusual to see the partners of players, their relatives or even their children caddy during the round, which is always nice to see.
The contest will be played over nine holes, and the player with the lowest total score will win. The holes are all short in distance, especially for today’s elite players, ranging from 70 yards to 140 yards. Unsurprisingly, the Par-3 contest has been home to plenty of hole-in-ones. There have been 94 recorded overall since that first running in 1960, with a record a nine being sunk in 2016, so we could quit easily see that number rise to 100 this year.
Previous Winners
Here are the last 10 Par-3 Contest winners:
2022 – Mackenzie Hughes, Mike Weir
2019 – Matt Wallace
2018 – Tom Watson
2016 – Jimmy Walker
2015 – Kevin Streelman
2014 – Ryan Moore
2013 – Ted Potter, Jr.
2012 – Padraig Harrington, Jonathan Byrd
2011 – Luke Donald
2010 – Louis Oosthuizen
Does Par-3 success mean anything?
Writing about the famous Masters Par-3 competition got me to thinking about whether or not success in the Par-3 competition means anything in relation to the main tournament. If a player wins on Wednesday, do they tend to go on and score well at the Masters?
The short answer is no, not really. Par-3 success doesn’t appear to mean an awful lot in terms of the Masters itself. Mackenzie Hughes won the Par-3 last year, before going on to finish 50th in the main event. Both the 2021 and 2020 renewals were cancelled due to COVID-19. In 2019, Matt Wallace won, before going on to miss the cut.
You’d have to go back to 2016 to find the last Par-3 winner, who went on to finish inside the top 30 in the proper tournament. That was Jimmy Walker, who finished in a tie for 29th. In 2015, Kevin Streelman won the Par-3 contest, before going on to finish in a very respectable tie for 12th.
In fact, there has never been a player win the Par-3 contest and the Masters in the same year. However, since 2000, a handful of players have won the Par-3 and then gone on to perform admirably in the main competition.
In 2000, Chris Perry won the Par-3, before going on to finish T14. In 2002, Par-3 winner Nick Price eventually finished T20, while David Toms having won the Par-3 alongside Padraig Harrington went on to finish T8 on the Sunday. The 2004 Masters saw Vijay Singh finish T6 having won the Par-3.
More recently, Luke Donald finished in a tie for 4th at the Masters having won the Par-3 just a few days earlier, so maybe keep an eye on the Par-3 winner this year. Even though history suggests that the Par-3 winner is unlikely to win the Masters Tournament, they could easily go close. Who knows, maybe 2023 will be the year where the Par-3 winner goes on to scoop the big prize.
Where can I watch the Masters Par 3?
The Masters Par-3 Contest will be played on Wednesday, starting at noon, local time. If you’re in the UK, that means the action will get underway around 17:00.
You can watch the Par-3 contest live on Masters.com, although not from the very start. Live coverage of the players involved is due to begin two hours after the first groups go out onto the Par 3 course. UK viewers will therefore be able to tune in from around 19:00.
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