Masters Par-3 ‘Curse’ won’t claim victim this year

AUGUSTA, United States: This year will be the first time in Masters history where the “Par- 3 Curse” will not claim a victim.

Threatening weather Wednesday forced an early closure at Augusta National Golf Club, cutting short the final practice rounds for Thursday’s start of the Masters and wiping out the annual Par- 3 Contest for the first time.

Since the Par- 3 Contest began in 1960, no champion of the light- hearted event, staged on the eve of the year’s first major championship, has ever gone on to don the winner’s green jacket in the same year.

The nearest any Par- 3 winner has come to breaking the curse was when Par-3 winners Raymond Floyd in 1990 and Chip Beck in 1993 finished second in the Masters.

What would have been the 58th edition of the event began under overcast skies but only 26 players managed to complete a hole before the course was closed following a tornado warning issued north of the area.

Two- time Masters champion Bubba Watson was the “clubhouse leader” at 9- over 36, although four other players completed the course but did not turn in a score, a common practice at an event where players sometimes allow children caddies to make a putt or skip shots over pond water to delight spectators.

Canada’s Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champion, aced the 130yard fourth hole of the 1,060-yard, nine-hole custom-designed layout, the 95th hole-in- one in the event’s history.

Weir and American Brendan Steele topped the leaderboard on 3under par when play was stopped. — AFP