Par‑3 contest spectacle
The Masters Par‑3 Contest delivered a showy warm-up: four holes‑in‑one appeared in the official highlights, a rare burst of aces that fans are already replaying. That video — posted Wednesday evening — is the clearest highlight reel of the day’s lighthearted, crowd-friendly moments and a must-watch preview before serious scoring begins. (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
Four balls disappeared in one afternoon at Augusta National’s Par 3 Contest on Wednesday, April 8, and the official highlight reel shows all four aces in one burst before the Masters even started. Justin Thomas, Wyndham Clark, Keegan Bradley, and Tommy Fleetwood were the players who made them. (youtube.com) That is a lot for one nine-hole exhibition, but it is not the all-time record. The Par 3 Contest has been played since 1960, and the record for aces in a single year is nine, set in 2016. (pgatour.com) The event works nothing like the real Masters rounds that begin on Thursday, April 9. It is a separate nine-hole exhibition on Augusta National’s short course, where holes run roughly wedge distance and players often bring wives, children, and grandchildren onto the course as caddies. (pgatour.com) That family setup is why the tone looks so different from the tournament people see on television from Thursday through Sunday. ESPN’s recap and live coverage both leaned on the same mix of kids, trick shots, and crowd noise that makes Wednesday at Augusta feel more like a spring festival than a major championship practice round. (espn.com) (pgatour.com) Justin Thomas got the run started early when he holed his tee shot at the 2nd hole while playing with Jordan Spieth and Max Homa. USA Today reported that the ace even cashed a bet Thomas had made with his group before the shot. (usatoday.com) Tommy Fleetwood’s ace landed differently because his family had already become part of this Augusta side story. Golf Digest noted that Fleetwood’s son Frankie had been a scene-stealer at the 2025 contest, and in 2026 the father supplied the viral shot by making his own hole-in-one. (golfdigest.com) There was also a winner, even if Wednesday is remembered more for the clips than the scorecard. Aaron Rai finished at 6-under-par to win the 2026 Par 3 Contest. (youtube.com) (golfchannel.com) And winning this thing comes with one of golf’s strangest pieces of folklore. No player has ever won the Par 3 Contest and then won that same year’s Masters Tournament, which is why players can enjoy the silver cup on Wednesday and still hear people call it a curse by Thursday morning. (youtube.com) (ftw.usatoday.com)
