Rai wins Par‑3 curtain‑raiser

Aaron Rai finished the Masters Par 3 Contest at 6-under 21 on Wednesday, then made his last birdie on the ninth hole to win by one shot at Augusta National. Jacob Bridgeman was second, and Johnny Keefer finished tied just behind after the nine-hole sprint turned into a late leaderboard shuffle. (golfweek.usatoday.com) The score was real, but the mood was not tournament-serious in the usual Masters sense. The Par 3 Contest is played on Augusta National’s short course on the Wednesday before the Masters, and players regularly hand shots to children, spouses, and parents the way a baseball team might turn batting practice into a family picnic. (pgatour.com) That family atmosphere is built into the format. The course is only nine holes long, it sits around DeSoto Springs Pond and Ike’s Pond, and many players who let relatives hit a shot are disqualified from the official competition even though they still finish the round. (pgatour.com) (golfweek.usatoday.com) That is why Rai’s win lands more like a scene than a signal. Golfweek reported that 85 players entered, but only 17 posted an official score, which tells you how many players treated the afternoon less like a dress rehearsal and more like a walk through the park with wedges. (golfweek.usatoday.com) The loudest moments were the four holes-in-one. Justin Thomas made the first, Wyndham Clark added another, Keegan Bradley aced the eighth, and Tommy Fleetwood made one on the fourth with his son Frankie on the bag. (youtube.com) (golfchannel.com) Bradley’s shot carried a little extra history. Golfweek reported that he became the first player ever to make a hole-in-one in back-to-back Masters Par 3 Contests, after also making one in 2025. (golfweek.usatoday.com) The contest has been around since 1960, and it has always had this split personality: part skill test, part postcard. The same event that tracks scores also invites past champions back, turns caddie bibs into family uniforms, and produces moments like Frankie Fleetwood trying to drive a ball across the pond at the ninth green. (pgatour.com) (cbssports.com) There is also one piece of Masters folklore attached to the winner every year. No player has ever won the Par 3 Contest and then won the Masters in the same week, even though 15 golfers have won both events at different points in their careers. (golfweek.usatoday.com) (pgatour.com) So Rai leaves Wednesday with a glass trophy, a clean little Augusta memory, and the kind of attention that comes from winning the happiest event of Masters week. What he does not get is a major rewrite of the real story, because the tournament that starts Thursday is still played over 72 holes on the big course, not nine relaxed holes with kids lining up putts. (golfweek.usatoday.com) (pgatour.com)