Masters Par 3 Contest at Augusta Fun Facts

Masters Par 3 Contest at Augusta Fun Facts.  Everyone is getting ready for round one of the Master's on Thursday.  But today the fun begins with the annual Par 3 Contest.

Start time: Noon

Live stream: 12-5 p.m. on Masters.com, 12-3 p.m. on ESPN+
TV coverage: 3-5 p.m. ESPN

Announcers:
Host: Sean McDonough
Analyst: Curtis Strange
On Course Reporter: Andy North
1st Tee Interviews: Marty Smith
9th Tee Interviews: Michael Collins

1. No Par 3 Contest winner has ever gone on to win the Masters that week. In 2011, Luke Donald came close, posting a 72-hole score of 278, which tied Raymond Floyd (1990) for the lowest 72-hole score by a Par 3 winner.  Donald finished tied for 4th, four strokes behind Charl Schwartzel. Raymond Floyd and Chip Beck finished 2nd in the Masters the year they won the Par 3 Contest.

2. This will be the 61st stroke play contest on the 9-hole course. It was first played in 1960 and won by Sam Snead. The 2017 event was canceled due to inclement weather, and the coronavirus pandemic prevented the event from being contested in both 2020 and 2021.

3.  Jimmy Walker holds the course record with a score of 19, set in 2016. He broke the previous record of 20, shared by Art Wall (1965) and Gay Brewer (1973).

4.  There have been 102 holes-in-one made, including one in last year’s event by Jason Kokrak. There have been 21 sudden death playoffs, the last coming in 2019 when Matt Wallace prevailed over Sandy Lyle.

This is the 13th year that ESPN will televise the Par 3 Contest. First played in 1960, the Par 3 Contest has become a Wednesday tradition at the Masters. The Par 3 Course was designed in 1958 by architect George Cobb and Augusta National Chairman Clifford Roberts. The Contest field includes Tournament participants, noncompeting past champions, and Honorary Invitees.

The nine-hole course is Par 27, 1,055 yards and played over DeSoto Springs Pond and Ike’s Pond. The course takes a different shape in 2023, as holes 1 through 5 were rerouted, allowing more golf holes to be adjacent to DeSoto Springs Pond and for the dam and pond to be reshaped and restored, while also increasing patron viewing options and capacity.

The most frequent aces occur on the 9th hole, where 24 have been made over the years. In 2016, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas played in the same group and hit holes-in-one on consecutive shots on the 4th hole.

No Par 3 Contest winner has won the Masters the same year as his short-course victory. There have been 19 Par 3 Contest winners who have missed the cut, including Matt Wallace in 2019.

Trophies are awarded to the winner and to the contestants who place their tee shots nearest the flagstick on each of the nine holes. Runner-up trophies are awarded only in the event of a playoff.

The best Masters finish by a Par 3 Contest winner was solo second, by Raymond Floyd in 1990 and Chip Beck in 1993.

A total of 12 Masters champions have also won the Par 3 Contest across their careers: Mike Weir, Mark O’Meara, Tom Watson, Sandy Lyle, Gay Brewer, Vijay Singh, Arnold Palmer, Raymond Floyd, Art Wall, Ben Crenshaw, Sam Snead, Tommy Aaron.

More on all of this today on Shemon and Sheppard 2-6pm.  Local golf pro Jeff Nixon will be in studio with us today from 4-5pm.

The world’s top-ranked golfer proved exactly why he just vaulted into that position, as Scottie Scheffler was atop the 86th Masters Leaderboard at Augusta National Golf Club.

Scheffler topped Rory McIlroy by three strokes to take home the record $2.7 million prize to go along with the iconic Green Jacket. He made it interesting with a scary double-bogey on the last, when his nerves finally got the better of him.

Here’s the complete 2022 Masters leaderboard, with score to par, round 1, round 2, round 3, round 4 and final total score:

-5 68 74 68 73 283

-4 73 70 74 67 284

-3 71 72 75 67 285

-3 70 73 72 70 285

-1 76 67 72 72 287

-1 67 74 71 75 287

E 72 75 71 70 288

E 72 69 73 74 288

1 69 73 75 72 289

1 69 74 73 73 289

2 71 71 79 69 290

2 73 75 72 70 290

2 71 73 76 70 290

2 71 75 73 71 290

2 72 74 73 71 290

2 72 74 73 71 290

2 72 69 77 72 290

2 75 72 70 73 290

2 70 76 71 73 290

3 71 71 80 69 291

3 73 73 76 69 291

3 72 74 74 71 291

3 74 70 75 72 291

4 74 72 77 69 292

4 74 74 74 70 292

4 72 76 71 73 292

5 73 74 76 70 293

5 74 72 76 71 293

5 72 76 72 73 293

5 77 69 73 74 293

5 73 75 71 74 293

6 69 74 77 74 294

6 71 75 74 74 294

6 74 73 73 74 294

6 71 74 73 76 294

7 70 75 79 71 295

7 73 73 78 71 295

7 73 74 75 73 295

7 76 70 73 76 295

8 74 73 79 70 296

9 73 71 77 76 297

9 75 70 75 77 297

12 75 73 79 73 300

13 71 74 78 78 301

14 74 74 80 74 302

14 74 73 77 78 302

15 73 75 77 78 303

15 71 75 77 80 303

17 72 74 79 80 305