Par‑3 Contest: Four Aces

Four balls disappeared in the cup before the Masters even started, with Justin Thomas, Wyndham Clark, Keegan Bradley, and Tommy Fleetwood all making holes-in-one in the 2026 Par 3 Contest at Augusta National on Wednesday, April 8. Aaron Rai still won the event at 6 under par, one shot ahead of Jacob Bridgeman and John Keefer. (youtube.com) (pgatour.com) That is a lot of aces for one afternoon, but the setup almost invites them. The Par 3 Contest is played on a separate nine-hole, par-27 course at Augusta National, with holes running roughly 90 to 155 yards around DeSoto Springs Pond and Ike’s Pond instead of across the full tournament course. (sports.yahoo.com) (sportingnews.com) The event has been part of Masters week since 1960, when Sam Snead won the first one. Augusta uses it as a Wednesday warm-up, but players treat it more like a family picnic with golf clubs, with wives, children, and grandchildren often serving as caddies in white jumpsuits. (pgatour.com 1) (pgatour.com 2) That relaxed mood is why the contest looks nothing like the Masters rounds that start the next day. Players laugh, let kids hit shots, and sometimes barely keep score, even though the winner still gets a crystal trophy at the end. (golfchannel.com) (golfweek.usatoday.com) The first ace came early, and it came with side action. Justin Thomas holed his shot at the 2nd while playing with Jordan Spieth and Max Homa, then flashed a money sign because the group had a $1,000 closest-to-the-pin bet riding on the hole. (usatoday.com) (golfdigest.com) Tommy Fleetwood’s ace turned into the day’s loudest family scene. Reuters photographed Fleetwood celebrating on the 4th hole, and later coverage showed his young son Frankie trying to drive a ball across the pond on the 9th, which became one of the clips that spread fastest from the afternoon. (reutersconnect.com) (cbssports.com) The aces also fit the event’s long history. Before this year, the contest had already produced more than 100 holes-in-one across its run, which is what happens when elite players spend an afternoon firing wedges and short irons at tucked flags from little more than pitching distance. (sports.yahoo.com) (todays-golfer.com) There is one piece of Masters folklore hanging over every winner, and Rai just inherited it. No player has ever won the Par 3 Contest and then won the Masters in the same week, even though 15 players have won both events at different times in their careers. (golfweek.usatoday.com) (ftw.usatoday.com) So the Wednesday show does two jobs at once. It gives Augusta National one last burst of loose, made-for-video chaos, and then it hands the course back to the players for the real test, where a 120-yard wedge swing can still look easy but every miss starts to cost something. (espn.com) (sportingnews.com)