The Masters Tournament Par-3 contest is a golf competition that precedes the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. The first Par-3 contest was held before the 1960 tournament, and was won by three-time Masters champion Sam Snead.[2] The contest takes place in a single round on a nine-hole, par-27 course in the northeast corner of the club's grounds, designed in 1958 by George Cobb and club founder Clifford Roberts.[1][3][4]

Masters Par-3 Contest
Tournament information
LocationAugusta, Georgia, U.S.
Established1960
Course(s)Augusta National Golf Club
Par27
Length1,060 yards (970 m)[1]
Organized byAugusta National Golf Club
FormatStroke play
Month playedApril
Tournament record score
To par−8 Jimmy Walker (2016)
Current champion
United States Rickie Fowler

Traditionally, the contest participants have invited family members to caddie for them, sometimes allowing them to play shots on their behalf. Through the 2019 contest, ninety-four holes in one have been recorded, including nine in the 2016 event.[4][5]

Snead became the contest's first multiple winner in 1974, fourteen years after his first. The most recent is Tom Watson, who won his second Par-3 contest in 2018, 36 years after his first in 1982. Pádraig Harrington is the only one with three wins; he won his first pair in consecutive years (2003, 2004), as did Sandy Lyle (1997, 1998). Seven players have multiple wins; the other three are Isao Aoki, Jay Haas, and David Toms.

Jimmy Walker holds the course record of 19 (–8), set in 2016, which included an ace. The contest has been decided by a playoff on 21 occasions, and concluded with a tie twice. Just 14 of the 59 winners (including ties) are non-American. No winner of the Par-3 contest has gone on to win the Masters in the same year.[4]

Winners

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Sam Snead (pictured in 1967) won the inaugural contest in 1960, and again in 1974
 
Vijay Singh (pictured in 2007) won in 1994
 
Sandy Lyle (pictured in 2006) won consecutive contests
in 1997 and 1998
 
Pádraig Harrington (pictured in 2007) has three contest victories;
two shared and one playoff win
Year Winner Country To par[6][a] Masters finish Ref.
1960 Sam Snead   United States −4 T11 [2]
1961 Deane Beman (a)   United States −5 CUT [7]
1962 Bruce Crampton   Australia −5 T29 [7]
1963* George Bayer   United States −4 T28 [7]
1964 Labron Harris Jr. (a)   United States −4 43 [7]
1965 Art Wall Jr.   United States −7 T45 [8]
1966 Terry Dill   United States −5 T17 [7]
1967* Arnold Palmer   United States −4 4 [7]
1968 Bob Rosburg   United States −5 T29 [7]
1969* Bob Lunn   United States −4 CUT [7]
1970 Harold Henning   South Africa −6 CUT [7]
1971* Dave Stockton   United States −4 T9 [7]
1972 Steve Melnyk   United States −4 T12 [7]
1973 Gay Brewer   United States −7 T10 [8]
1974* Sam Snead (2)   United States −5 T20 [7]
1975* Isao Aoki   Japan −4 CUT [7]
1976 Jay Haas (a)   United States −6 CUT [7]
1977* Tom Weiskopf   United States −4 T14 [9]
1978* Lou Graham   United States −5 CUT [7]
1979 Joe Inman   United States −5 T23 [7]
1980 Johnny Miller   United States −5 T38 [7]
1981 Isao Aoki (2)   Japan −5 T45 [10]
1982* Tom Watson   United States −4 T5 [11]
1983 Hale Irwin   United States −5 T6 [7]
1984 Tommy Aaron   United States −5 CUT [12]
1985 Hubert Green   United States −5 CUT [7]
1986* Gary Koch   United States −4 T16 [7]
1987 Ben Crenshaw   United States −5 T4 [13]
1988 Tsuneyuki Nakajima   Japan −3 T33 [7]
1989* Bob Gilder   United States −5 39 [7]
1990 Raymond Floyd   United States −4 2 [7]
1991* Rocco Mediate   United States −3 T22 [7]
1992 Davis Love III   United States −5 T25 [7]
1993 Chip Beck   United States −6 2 [14]
1994 Vijay Singh   Fiji −5 T27 [15]
1995* Hal Sutton   United States −4 CUT [16]
1996* Jay Haas (2)   United States −5 T36 [17]
1997* Sandy Lyle   Scotland −5 T34 [18]
1998 Sandy Lyle (2)   Scotland −3 CUT [7]
1999 Joe Durant   United States −5 CUT [7]
2000* Chris Perry   United States −4 T14 [19]
2001 David Toms   United States −5 T31 [20]
2002* Nick Price   Zimbabwe −5 T20 [21]
2003† Pádraig Harrington
David Toms (2)
  Ireland
  United States
−6 CUT
T8
[22]
2004* Pádraig Harrington (2)   Ireland −4 T13 [23]
2005 Jerry Pate   United States −5 DNP [24]
2006 Ben Crane   United States −4 CUT [25]
2007 Mark O'Meara   United States −5 CUT [26]
2008 Rory Sabbatini   South Africa −5 CUT [27]
2009 Tim Clark   South Africa −5 T13 [27]
2010 Louis Oosthuizen   South Africa −6 CUT [27]
2011 Luke Donald   England −5 T4 [28]
2012† Jonathan Byrd
Pádraig Harrington (3)
  United States
  Ireland
−5 T27
T8
[29]
2013* Ted Potter Jr.   United States −4 CUT [3]
2014 Ryan Moore   United States −6 CUT [30]
2015* Kevin Streelman   United States −5 T12 [31]
2016 Jimmy Walker   United States −8 T29 [4]
2017 Contest canceled due to rain [32]
2018 Tom Watson (2)   United States −6 DNP [33]
2019* Matt Wallace   England −5 CUT [34]
2020 Contest canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic [35]
2021
2022† Mackenzie Hughes
Mike Weir
  Canada −4 T50
CUT
[36]
2023 Tom Hoge   United States −6 CUT [37]
2024 Rickie Fowler   United States −5 T30 [38]
Key
* - playoff [7]
† - tie [7]
(a) - amateur

Masters champions who also won a Par-3 contest

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Arnold Palmer (pictured in 2009) won the Par-3 contest in 1967 having won the Masters four times between 1958 and 1964.
Champions Par-3 wins Masters wins[39]
Sam Snead 1960, 1974 1949, 1952, 1954
Art Wall Jr. 1965 1959
Arnold Palmer 1967 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964
Gay Brewer 1973 1967
Tom Watson 1982, 2018 1977, 1981
Tommy Aaron 1984 1973
Ben Crenshaw 1987 1984, 1995
Raymond Floyd   1990 1976
Vijay Singh 1994 2000
Sandy Lyle 1997, 1998 1988
Mark O'Meara 2007 1998
Mike Weir 2022 2003
  • No player has won the Par-3 contest and the Masters in the same year, a fact well known by the players.[4][40]
    Raymond Floyd came the closest in the 1990 tournament, but lost in a sudden-death playoff.[41]
  • Ben Crenshaw and Vijay Singh are the only players to win a Masters after winning a Par-3 contest.
  • Tom Watson is the only player to hold both titles at once, for four days, winning the Par-3 contest in 1982 as defending Masters champion.[11]

Notes

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  • a Par is a predetermined number of strokes that a golfer should require to complete a hole, a round (the sum of the total pars of the played holes), or a tournament (the sum of the total pars of each round). E stands for even, which means the round was completed in the predetermined number of strokes.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b "The Masters – The Par 3 Course". Golf Today. Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Stutsman, Doug (April 6, 2016). "The day an amateur won at Augusta National". The Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Ted Potter Jr. wins Par 3 in playoff". ESPN. April 11, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Masters 2016: Nine holes-in-one in Par 3 contest". BBC Sport. April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  5. ^ "About The Par 3 Contest". Masters Tournament. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Scoring". BBC Sport. September 16, 2005. Retrieved September 23, 2008.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac "Historical Records & Stats – Par 3 Contest". The Masters. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  8. ^ a b "Par-3 Contest offers big fun in a short round". The Augusta Chronicle. April 8, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  9. ^ Bingham, Walter (April 18, 1977). "Down the Bobby Jones Expressway". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  10. ^ "Isao Aoki of Japan, noted for his unusual putting..." United Press International. April 8, 1981. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  11. ^ a b "Watson takes Par-3 tournament in playoff". Gadsden Times. Alabama. Associated Press. April 8, 1982. p. 17.
  12. ^ "Tommy Aaron, winner of the Masters Championship in 1973,..." United Press International. April 11, 1984. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  13. ^ Fowler, Bob (April 9, 1987). "Crenshaw Wins Despite Dad's Advice Left-handed Approach Leaves O'Grady Last". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  14. ^ Dorman, Larry (April 8, 1993). "Kite Expects To Tee Off Despite An Aching Back". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on April 26, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  15. ^ Mayo, Michael (April 7, 1994). "Another Foreign Affair Set To Bloom At Augusta". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on April 25, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  16. ^ Dorman, Larry (April 6, 1995). "Golf; Woods Has Injury Scare on Eve of Masters". The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  17. ^ Mayo, Michael (April 11, 1996). "Haas wins Par-3". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on April 25, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  18. ^ "USA: Augusta: Golf: Sandy Lyle wins annual Par-3 Contest". Associated Press. October 4, 1997. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  19. ^ "Wednesday notebook: Perry prevails". ESPN. April 6, 2000. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  20. ^ "Wednesday notebook: Is Toms cursed?". ESPN. April 4, 2001. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  21. ^ "Price wins par-3; Izawa has pair of aces". USA Today. April 11, 2002. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  22. ^ "Harrington, Toms tie in Masters prelude". United Press International. April 9, 2003. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  23. ^ Ferguson, Doug (April 7, 2015). "Tiger Woods to play in Par 3 competition at the Masters". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  24. ^ "Jerry Pate wins Masters par-3 tourney". United Press International. April 6, 2005. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  25. ^ Mell, Randall (April 6, 2006). "Crane Hopes To End Par 3 Curse". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on April 26, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  26. ^ "Mark O'Meara wins the Par 3 contest". Golf Today. April 5, 2007. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  27. ^ a b c "Louis Oosthuizen wins par-3 Contest at Augusta". BBC Sport. April 7, 2010. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  28. ^ Fine, Larry (April 6, 2011). "Luke Donald wins Masters Par-3 Contest". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 18, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  29. ^ McAllister, Mike (April 4, 2012). "Harrington, Byrd share Par 3 victory". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  30. ^ "The Masters: Ryan Moore wins Augusta Par 3 Contest". CNN. April 9, 2014. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  31. ^ Ballengee, Ryan (April 8, 2015). "Kevin Streelman won Masters Par 3 Contest with special caddie". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  32. ^ Herrington, Ryan (April 5, 2017). "A Masters Par 3 Contest first: No winner declared after rain washes out the event". Golf Digest. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  33. ^ Daniels, Tim (April 4, 2018). "Masters Par 3 Tournament 2018: Tom Watson Becomes Oldest Winner in History". Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  34. ^ Woodard, Adam (April 10, 2019). "Matt Wallace wins Masters Par 3 Contest, denies Sandy Lyle of historic third win". Golfweek. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  35. ^ "2020 Masters Schedule Announced". The Masters Tournament. Augusta National Golf Club. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  36. ^ "Mike Weir, Mackenzie Hughes share Masters Par 3 title at Augusta National". ESPN. April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  37. ^ McDonald, Patrick (April 5, 2023). "2023 Masters Par 3 Contest leaderboard, results: Tom Hoge wins, Scottie Scheffler walks off with hole-in-one". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  38. ^ McDonald, Patrick (April 10, 2024). "2024 Masters Par 3 Contest leaderboard, results: Rickie Fowler wins, Viktor Hovland drains one of five aces". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  39. ^ "The Masters – Past Winners & Runners-Up". PGA Tour. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  40. ^ "Par 3 jinx resting on pro's shoulders". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. April 11, 1991. p. 6D.
  41. ^ Shearer, Ed (April 9, 1990). "Floyd devastated after late collapse". Wilmington Morning Star. North Carolina. Associated Press. p. 4B.
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33°30′11″N 82°01′05″W / 33.503°N 82.018°W / 33.503; -82.018