Increasingly popular Par 3 event rained out

The popularity of the Masters Par 3 Contest wound up costing the honorary invitees a chance to play.

While still invited to Augusta National, the honorary invitees were told this year to skip the Par 3 Contest as well as practice rounds leading up to the tournament.

Augusta National Chairman said more tournament players and former Masters champions wanted to play the Par 3 Contest, “stretching out the required time to complete it to a point that it became exceedingly difficult to do it.”

It wasn’t really an issue this year. The Par 3 was called off when severe storms moved through the area, shutting down the course early in the afternoon.

But the event has increasingly become one of the highlights of the week, televised by ESPN and featuring everyone from former greats such as six-time masters champion to the young children of players, bounding around the ninehole course in their white caddy coveralls.

Olympic Golf

When Billy Payne led Atlanta’s winning bid for the 1996 Summer Olympics, he proposed adding golf to the program — to be played at Augusta National.

Golf finally returned to the Olympics last year in Rio de Janeiro, but the thought of staging the Olympics at the home of the Masters came up again Wednesday.

Payne, during his annual news conference as the club’s chairman, was asked for his assessment of the Rio tournament and whether Atlanta should make another bid for the Summer Games so golf could be held at Augusta National.

Payne quipped, “I have a lot of leeway on this answer since I surely won’t be chairman then.”

He won’t be leading another Olympic bid, either, but noted that Atlanta is opening two new stadiums this year.