I’ve by no means beforehand harbored any nice emotion in direction of the Par 3 Contest on the Masters. As a viewer at house, it is the form of occasion that does not get all that a lot TV protection and my interplay with it typically solely got here from the transient clips I might see of holes in a single or attention-grabbing moments with gamers and their households. Nonetheless, after attending the Par 3 Contest for the primary time in particular person this 12 months, I believe it needs to be heralded because the Masters’ biggest in an extended line of traditions.
Performed for the primary time in 1960, the Par 3 Contest is the casual curtain raiser for the event itself permitting present and previous gamers – alongside their households – to play the beautiful par 3 course at Augusta Nationwide. There have been some memorable moments after all – like Tony Finau’s dislocated ankle after his gap in a single in 2018 or Gary Nicklaus Jr.’s gap in a single in the identical 12 months – however till I noticed it and skilled it with my very own eyes, it is a laborious occasion to correctly admire.
The ambiance on web site is like nothing I’ve ever skilled at a dwell golf occasion. A collection of the perfect golfers on the planet in as a relaxed a temper as you are ever prone to see all inside touching distance large crowds of Patrons. With companions, youngsters and grandchildren by their facet dressed within the conventional white boiler fits, it offers a peek into the lives of the gamers in moods we hardly ever see them in – and that is an actual deal with. It is also price expressing simply how giant the par 3 course is at Augusta Nationwide. Coming it at simply over 1000 yards, it isn’t an extended par 3 course in its personal proper, however its surrounded by large banks and lakes which make for splendid viewing platforms for the Patrons.
I additionally love the groupings the Par 3 Contest throws out. The enroll sheet which is posted within the clubhouse for gamers to scrawl their names onto typically means pals off the course signal as much as play as a 3, or a participant will put their identify down and sees who desires a knock. I additionally liked with the ability to see previous champions with membership in hand once more at Augusta Nationwide. Sir Nick Faldo, Gary Participant, Ben Crenshaw, Jose Maria Olazabal – it was fairly particular to see them hit golf balls in a ‘event’ like this as soon as once more. The companions and youngsters typically get a putt or a chip too as they caddie. Bubba Watson, who was out enjoying as we speak with Ben Crenshaw, let his daughter have a putt on the ultimate gap and he or she duly sank a 30 footer to rapturous applause.
Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry paired up this 12 months with their wives and youngsters.
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
Whereas the golf and scoring itself actually would not matter, watching the gamers flick nothing greater than pitching wedges into the small, undulating, glass-like greens that mimic the principle course remains to be a marvel to behold in itself. The course is ready up in such a method that you simply’re nearly assured to see a gap in a single at some stage. This 12 months there have been three, however numerous different balls got here shut because the teams made their method across the course. Very like on the principle course, roars from the group echo far by means of the timber, and also you’re by no means distant from the perfect elements of the motion heading in the right direction.
The seventh gap particularly was arrange completely for a gap in a single, and Lucas Glover duly discovered the underside of the cup in a single. The sixth noticed two of them as we speak from Gary Woodland and Luke Record and fifth noticed one from Sepp Straka. In fact there’s additionally the unlucky document that no participant has gained the Par 3 Contest and the Masters in the identical 12 months – sorry Rickie Fowler followers.
The world {of professional} golf is in a fractured and tetchy state as of proper now. For a lot of, the shouting match between the varied rival excursions has turned folks off the sport they as soon as liked watching totally because it turns into a contest of who has the most important financial institution steadiness. For me, the Par 3 Contest jogged my memory of all the pieces that’s nice about golf. Associates, household and a aggressive edge is why all of us play the sport. What higher method than on the eve of the sport’s nice main championship to host an occasion as relaxed and as satisfying as this.
With the TV protection patchy at finest and no capacity for the published to carry the perfect bits of the competition into folks’s dwelling rooms, it is definitely one for the Patrons who’re fortunate sufficient to be on web site slightly than the viewing public at house. Nonetheless, in a really, very lengthy line of nice traditions, I believe the Par 3 Contest is Augusta Nationwide’s crowning glory.