Justin Thomas Ace

Justin Thomas gave Masters week its first made-for-video moment before the tournament itself even started. On Wednesday, April 8, 2026, he made a hole-in-one on the second hole of Augusta National’s Par 3 Contest. (nytimes.com) The shot came one hole after Thomas opened with a birdie, so he was already off to a sharp start on the short course. By the time the ball dropped on No. 2, the annual Wednesday exhibition had turned into the day’s biggest Masters highlight. (msn.com) The Par 3 Contest is not the Masters itself. It is a separate Wednesday event at Augusta National that began in 1960, and it is built for lighter moments, family cameos, and the kind of clips that spread fast before the first competitive round begins. (nytimes.com) That setting is why one swing can travel so far. The course is shorter, the mood is looser, and players often bring wives, children, and friends inside the ropes, which turns a practice-day tradition into something closer to a spring carnival with golf clubs. (usatoday.com) Thomas added a little theater after the ball went in. Reports from Wednesday’s coverage said he turned toward Jordan Spieth and Max Homa and flashed a money gesture, suggesting there had been some kind of friendly wager inside the group. (sportingnews.com) That reaction fit the event’s history. ESPN noted that Thomas’ ace was part of a contest that had already produced 115 holes-in-one before this year, which helps explain why the Par 3 Contest keeps delivering memorable clips even though it does not count toward the tournament score. (espn.com) The timing also mattered. Wednesday at Augusta is the last full day before the Masters begins on Thursday, April 9, so every standout moment lands right as attention shifts from practice rounds and traditions to pairings, tee times, and the first chase for the lead. (usatoday.com) The first round schedule gave that buzz somewhere to go. USA Today reported that the tournament opens Thursday at Augusta National, with the field moving from the relaxed Par 3 setting into the formal opening round that decides the first real leaderboard of the week. (usatoday.com) Thomas himself is set to go out Thursday afternoon. Golf Channel’s published pairings listed Justin Thomas with Sepp Straka and Ben Griffin at 1:32 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time for Round 1, which means his Wednesday ace will roll straight into one of the later featured windows on opening day. (golfchannel.com) That is how Masters week usually works at Augusta. A ceremonial event on Wednesday creates the images people remember, then those images hang over Thursday when the score finally starts to matter. (nytimes.com) Thomas did not win a green jacket on Wednesday, and the shot will not count once the tournament begins. But for one afternoon, a single swing on the second hole did exactly what Augusta wants before its biggest week gets serious: it made everyone look up early. (espn.com)