I’d chalk up the Par 3 Contest as a laborious nine holes chasing around my kids and trying to keep up.
Editor’s Note: Peter Malnati qualified for his first Masters by winning the Valspar Championship last month. The 36-year-old veteran hadn’t won in nearly nine years on the PGA Tour. He’s sharing a first-person account of his experience daily only at Golfweek.com.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Webb Simpson, who is someone that I really look up to and have become close with, calls Wednesday at the Masters his favorite golf day of the year without a close second and I can totally see why.
The family involvement at the annual Par 3 Contest is really cool. My two sons, Hatcher, the eldest, and Dash were both suited up in their little caddie bibs. Hatcher had a little green bag and clubs. Dash was picking up golf balls. It’s a pretty cool site to see your 4-year-old hitting balls in the tournament practice area at Augusta National.
Parenthood is a labor of love and as much fun as I had, I’d chalk up the Par 3 Contest as a laborious nine holes chasing around my kids and trying to keep up.
The Par-3 course was set up with a bunch of funnel pins. I think five of my nine shots felt like they had a chance to go in at one point. I hit to kick in range four times, made one long putt, hit one wedge that looked like it was going to spin into the hole. I’m counting five birdies – I’m giving myself birdie at the last hole despite my wife, Alicia, missing the putt. But I hit it in there pretty close. She’s good at a lot of things so I will let it slide. I kid. She’s the rock and the reason we are able to do everything we do so she’s forgiven for missing a 2 footer. In her defense, it did break sharply from left to right. I could’ve left her a straighter putt.
We played with a couple of other Masters rookies in Adam Schenk and Stephan Jaeger. They are both parents, too, but don’t have the 4½-year-old like we do but they have younger kids in the 1-1½ range so it was similar family dynamics at play.
One last cool thing about the Par 3 Contest: My shot at the second hole to 16 inches held on as the closest of the day, which means I get a crystal trophy that will make for a cool souvenir.
Peter Malnati lifts his wife Alicia on the No. 9 tee during the Par 3 Contest at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Network
Prior to the Par 3 Contest, I did a morning workout and was one of the first players out on the front nine.
Do I know all the nuances of Augusta National? Have I seen it in different conditions and directions? Of course not. But I feel like I have a pretty good map of the course in my mind. I have a pretty good idea of where the hole locations are just from historical information. I did a lot of the practice around the greens and on the greens to different locations. I have a good sense of the strategy I want to use after my prep work. But I think none of it is going to come down to whether or not I have the right information to form the right plan. It’s just going to come down to execution. That’s the question every week and I do feel ready to do that too.
I guess there’s inclement weather in the forecast for Thursday that could throw a wrench in the starting times. We’ll have to see how that affects the course and the way it plays and what time we get to play and all that. Regardless. I’ll be ready for it and I’m thankful we got here early. I got to play all 18 holes on Sunday. I definitely feel like we’ve been here a full tournament week already. I’m ready to get the action started. I think I did a relatively good job of pacing my prep work. I don’t feel like I’ve overdone it. From an energy standpoint, I should be ready to go.
Whatever time it is when I get to peg it on the first tee on Thursday, I’m sure I will feel some nerves. I’ve felt those nerves at just about every PGA Tour event I’ve played and I don’t think tomorrow will be any different. Maybe it will be a little more intense in terms of the nerves but whatever I feel, I’ve done the work, I have the support system around me, and I’m ready for it. I’m excited to get this started.
The Masters Tournament is one of the hottest tickets to get in sports, but it’s also one of the hardest to get your hands on. That’s because Augusta National Golf Club holds a selection process every year for the Masters, Augusta National Women’s Amateur and Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals.
The applications for tickets to all three events generally opens around the first week of June. The first step is as easy as creating an account on the Masters, ANWA and DCP websites (it’s one account, but you’ll need to visit each individual site and log in to apply for tickets to each event).
Hopeful patrons can apply for multiple days at each event but are only eligible to secure tickets for one day. Applications are also limited to one per household.
Prices fluctuate, but the 2024 ticket cost was $100 for practice rounds and $140 for tournaments rounds. For the final round of the ANWA, it was $100; the DCP National Finals tickets were $25.
Hard to beat that value.
The only way to pay for tickets is through the website. Augusta National will inform those who have been selected in late July.
More information can be found on the official Masters website, which includes this message for anyone thinking about reselling tickets:
As a reminder, Augusta National, Inc. is the only authorized source/seller of Masters® Tickets. The resale of any Masters Ticket is strictly prohibited. Holders of Tickets acquired from third parties, by whatever means, may be excluded from attendance to the Tournament.
For the third year in a row the Masters has been impacted by inclement weather.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — For the third year in a row the Masters has been negatively impacted by inclement weather.
Augusta National Golf Club announced on Wednesday night that forecasted weather during Thursday’s first round had delayed not only the opening of the patron gate but the round itself. The club sent an update shortly after 7:30 a.m. ET on Thursday morning that noted the first round would start at 10:30 a.m. ET, instead of at 8 a.m. ET as originally planned. Patron gates open at 9:30 a.m. ET and the Honorary Starters Ceremony featuring Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson will start at 10:10 a.m. ET.
Rain has now fallen during 48 of the 88 tournaments, including each of the last six. Eight days of play have been postponed, but four days were made up by scheduling 36 holes in one day in 1936, 1938, 1939 and most recently 2003. The last Monday finish due to weather occurred in 1983.
Last year inclement weather suspended play for 21 minutes on Friday before it was ultimately suspended for the day later in the afternoon. Play was once again suspended on Saturday afternoon due to more heavy rain.
Thursday’s forecast calls for morning thunderstorms with a 95% chance of rain, upwards of 20 mph winds and a high of 80 degrees.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — With so much focus on the competition the week of the Masters Tournament, Wednesday has become a welcome sight for many in the field.
The Masters Par 3 Contest is a way for players to decompress the day before the opening round, but also make lifelong memories with their families. Competing in his third Masters, Augusta resident Luke List embraces the ‘calm before the storm,’ so to speak.
“It’s a special week, and this kind of gets everything rolling,” he said. “Once this is over it’s time to go. Living here in Augusta now it’s really special being here, and, yeah, I just can’t wait to get going.”
Rickie Fowler took the day with a score of 5 under. Since its inception in 1960, no winner of the Par 3 Contest has ever donned a green jacket that same week. The level of superstition among the field continues to this day, with players letting caddies, significant others or their children step in to make the next shot, disqualifying them in the process.
Few moments are more iconic than a player’s child taking the club from their father. Gary Woodland knew long before setting foot on the No. 9 green who’d be taking his final stroke: his 6-year-old son, Jax.
“It was exciting. He’s thought about it all day,” he said. “He’s known that was going to be his shot. He told me to hit it a lot closer than that so I was apologizing I didn’t hit it closer for him. That was so cool. Just so see his reaction, that was very special.”
Of the 80 players in the field, just 16 turned in complete scores.
The Masters Par-3 Contest aces
Sepp Straka
Straka was the only player who aced a hole (No. 5) and played a complete round, finishing two strokes behind Fowler in a tie for second.
Luke List
The first hole-in-one of the day came from the Augusta resident. Oddly enough, this wasn’t List’s first ace during the Par-3 Contest, but to talk about that we’ll have to go back to when he was an amateur.
“A long time ago, 2005, I made one on No. 7 in the Par-3,” he said. “So this was kind of — it was awesome to have my family there. It was neat. I didn’t see it go in, just heard the crowd, you know it is. It’s organized chaos out there with the kids, but we had a good time.”
Gary Woodland
Woodland followed up List with the second ace of the day, which was also the first Par-3 Contest ace of his career.
“This is my 12th time playing the par-3. I’ve had some close calls. It was nice to see one go in,” he said. “Nice to see my kids’ reaction. They were so excited. I will say, my son making the putt on the last was more exciting for me than that ball going in.”
Viktor Hovland
Hovland was the third to ace No. 6 and the final hole-in-one of the day.
This is a revered tournament, the most famous on earth, but it’s also something more.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The game of men’s golf marks time from one year to the next when Augusta National opens its doors for another Masters. This is a revered tournament, the most famous on earth, but it’s also something more.
It’s a measuring stick of sorts, an annual gathering to tell us how the men’s game is doing. How is Tiger holding up? Is Rory ready to finally win here? And, perhaps most important, where does the game stand in these fraught times, with the sport increasingly and devastatingly sectioning itself off from the people it needs the most, its fans, all because the game’s most compelling matchup these days is PGA Tour vs. LIV?
By any measure, as the Masters begins Thursday morning, golf is a sport in some significant trouble. The glory days of Tiger are long since over, replaced by little more than hope: hope that he can make the cut here this week, hope that the people who love and miss him can will him into the weekend and up the leaderboard.
TV ratings are down (the Players’ Championship dropped 15 percent from last year to this), and while it’s convenient to say that’s happening in all sports, we know that’s not true because we just lived through the past magical month following a certain player in March Madness.
The players themselves are concerned, even though some of the biggest worry-warts are the ones who bolted their multi-million-dollar lives for LIV’s Saudi blood money.
Bryson DeChambeau for example.
“It’s great to have the majors where we come together, but we want to be competing, at least I want to be competing every week, with all of the best players in the world for sure,” said the man who walked away from playing against the best players in the world to go to a no-cut, exhibition style shell of a golf tour. “And it needs to happen fast. It’s not a two-year thing. Like it needs to happen quicker rather than later just for the good of the sport. Too many people are losing interest.”
There’s a sentence, as problematic as it is honest, that you don’t see very often from a pro athlete in a big-time sport: “Too many people are losing interest.” Of course, they are losing interest precisely because of the actions of people like the guy who uttered the quote.
Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley, watching the game he loves descend into what it never was supposed to become, is also understandably concerned.
“I will acknowledge that, if you look at the data this year, golf viewers are down (on) linear television while other sports, some other sports are up,” he said Wednesday. “So you can draw your own conclusions. Certainly the fact that the best players in the world are not convening very often is not helpful. Whether or not there’s a direct causal effect, I don’t know. But I think that it would be a lot better if they were together more often.”
One of the allures of golf has always been how players have conducted themselves. Golfers call penalties on themselves. That’s unique and notable, something that requires at least an element of honesty.
Keep that in mind as we consider defending Masters champion Jon Rahm. Back in 2022, as golf’s civil war was exploding, Rahm was quite adamant that he had absolutely no interest in joining LIV.
“Money is great, but when (his wife) Kelley and I started talking about it, and we’re like, Will our lifestyle change if I got $400 million? No, it will not change one bit,” Rahm said.
“Truth be told, I could retire right now with what I’ve made and live a very happy life and not play golf again. So I’ve never really played the game of golf for monetary reasons. I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world. I’ve always been interested in history and legacy, and right now the PGA Tour has that.”
In December 2023, he left the PGA Tour for LIV.
Rahm will get his applause and cheers here this week, but he will never be able to recapture his honor. It’s so fitting in golf’s troubled times: the man who lied and sold out for money is the reigning Masters champion.
There are 13 LIV players in the field this year, down from 18 last year.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Ahead of last year’s 2023 Masters, LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman said there would be a party on the 18th green if one of his players were to win at Augusta National. An invitation was withheld from Norman in 2023 “to keep the focus on the competition” after Norman and company blew up professional golf as we know it.
This year, the Great White Shark showed up to the party among the Georgia pines on Wednesday with a pair of LIV executives.
“I’m here because we have 13 players that won 10 Masters between them,” Norman told the Washington Post. “So I’m here just to support them, do the best I can to show them, ‘Hey, you know, the boss is here rooting for you.’”
In 23 appearances at the Masters as a player, Norman logged eight top-five finishes, including a trio of runners-up showings highlighted by his blown six-shot lead on Sunday in 1996. This year marks Norman’s first time back at Augusta National since 2021 when he was a SiriusXM radio analyst.
Earlier on Wednesday, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley addressed LIV Golf and their desire for a special qualification criteria.
“Now, historically, and as stated in our qualification criteria, we consider international players for special invitations,” Ridley continued. “But we do look at those every year and we, I will say that if we felt that there were a player or players, whether they played on the LIV tour or any other tour, who were deserving of an invitation to the Masters, that we would exercise that discretion with regard to special invitations.”
In fact, one was given to LIV’s Joaquin Niemann due to his performances on the DP World Tour over the last several months. Norman thinks a few more players should have been invited.
“I think there’s probably a couple that have been overlooked that should be in,” Norman said. “What is that number? I’m not going to give it a definitive number, but they’re definitely quality players that have done incredible performances over the last six to nine months that are worthy of it.”
There are 13 LIV players in the field of 89 this week, down from the 18 that made their way down Magnolia Lane in 2023.
“That’s almost like asking, you know, can we touch up the Mona Lisa a little bit.”
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fred Ridley shot down any notion that the world-famous 12th hole would be lengthened at any time, if ever.
“Well, forever is a long time. I would say with a hundred percent certainty that it would not be lengthened during my tenure,” the Augusta National Golf Club and Masters Tournament Chairman said on Wednesday.
In his annual pretournament “State of the Masters” news conference, Ridley addressed a suggestion made this week by former Masters champ Vijay Singh that at least 10 yards be added to the 155-yard par-3 hole because he thinks it’s playing too easy.
“That’s almost like asking, you know, can we touch up the Mona Lisa a little bit. I mean, I think that the 12th hole at Augusta is the most iconic par-3 in the world. It has been and I won’t say it always will be, but I think it always will be,” said Ridley, who played the hole as a participant three times in the late 1970s, which makes him the first chairman in club history to have played in the Masters.
The 12th hole, called Golden Bell, is the signature hole at Augusta National Golf Club and is the lone one that has never been lengthened since the Masters debuted in 1934.
“There’s something about – I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about the topography, the trees, the wind, the beauty that just – it just captures your imagination,” Ridley said. “When you combine that with the history that’s been made there, I mean, the most recent being the tragedies and triumphs when Tiger Woods won in 2019.
“You know, Freddie Couples’ ball, you know, hanging up on the edge of Rae’s Creek, which is part of the – made part of the song ‘Augusta.’ And so I just think it is such an iconic hole that’s had so many important moments in the Masters that I’m not sure that another 10 yards would really make a difference. Players are hitting short irons, but doesn’t seem to matter, the hole is very difficult.”
Historically, the hole is the fourth-most difficult at Augusta National, playing an averge of .270 strokes over par.
That’s almost like asking, you know, can we touch up the Mona Lisa a little bit
In a wide-ranging news conference that included an update the Augusta National’s plans to take over the Augusta Municipal Golf Course with Augusta Tech, the biggest news centered around the breakaway LIV Golf tour, with Ridley saying there is a possibility some of its American players could receive a special invitation to play in the Masters in the future. Special invitations have only gone to international players in the past.
With no world ranking points for the players on that tour, some top players who left the PGA Tour for the money at LIV are not here this week, including Talor Gooch, the tour’s player of the year last season.
Jon Rahm tees off on No. 1 during a practice round at Augusta National Golf Club ahead of the 2024 Masters. (Photo: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Network)
The top 50 players in the world at the end of each calendar year qualify for the Masters. Many of the LIV players have dropped out of the top 50 since jumping to the rebel circuit, which opened shop in June 2021. Thirteen LIV golfers are here this week and seven of them are former Masters champions who have lifetime invitations into the tournament.
“But I think in our case, we’re an invitational, and we can adjust as necessary … Now, historically, and as stated in our qualification criteria, we consider international players for special invitations,” he said.
That’s how LIV golfer Joaquin Niemann of Chile got into the field this year. After he concluded his LIV event commitments, he added tournaments like the Australian PGA and the Australian Open, which he won, to his schedule.
That caught the eye of Augusta National and helped him get the invite.
Familiar LIV members who have qualified for past Masters but not this year include Gooch, Louis Oosthuizen, Abraham Ancer, Mito Pereira, Harold Varner III, Paul Casey and Dean Burmester, a four-time DP World Tour winner before signing on the with LIV. He won last week’s LIV event in Doral, Florida.
“I will say that if we felt that there were a player or players, whether they played on the LIV Tour or any other tour, who were deserving of an invitation to the Masters, that we would exercise that discretion with regard to special invitations,” Ridley said.
Ridley discounted the idea of creating a qualification system for LIV golfers based on how they play on that tour.
“Yeah, I don’t know the answer to that,” he said. “I think it will be difficult to establish any type of point system that had any connection to the rest of the world of golf because they’re basically, not totally, but for the most part, a closed shop.”
This is the second year that the Masters – and golf in general – has dealt with the specter of LIV. Two LIV players – Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka – tied for second in the 2023 Masters, and winner Jon Rahm later jumped ship to LIV in December.
Since the 2023 Masters, the PGA Tour and LIV have agreed to a framework to possibly work together, but progress has been slow and an agreement might not be struck by the 2025 Masters.
Taking over Augusta Municipal
As for Augusta National’s plans for the Augusta Municipal Golf Course, the club will take over the lease in January 2025. It will be for $1 a year for up to 50 years. Ridley said work will start in January with a projected April 2026 completion date.
The Augusta Municipal Golf Course. (Photo: Katie Goodale/The Augusta Chronicle-USA TODAY Network)
“We have reached an agreement with the City of Augusta to lease this facility, and over the past year we have had multiple community input sessions with the many stakeholders who frequent The Patch,” Ridley said. “With the insightful feedback we received, we are on a great path to make significant improvements to The Patch and to the First Tee facilities. In that regard, we have retained two of golf’s most respected course designers, Tom Fazio and Beau Welling, to lead the renovation of this historic municipal course. So, while planning is still in process, we’ll have more details next year, I think it’s just going to be fantastic.”
Ridley praised the success of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which just completed its fifth edition, but doesn’t think women professionals will ever have a tournament or team competition at Augusta National.
“There are some fundamental difficulties in that,” Ridley said. “We happily were able to find a way to have a competition for juniors and a competition for women amateurs sort of wrapped around the Masters Tournament, and it just seems to fit really well. To have another tournament of any kind would be very difficult based on our season, based on the fact that this is essentially a winter and spring golf course.
“It’s not open in the summer. It doesn’t play the way we want it to play in the fall for a major tournament,” he said.
Dustin Johnson set the tournament record of 20-under 268 in the 2020 Masters, which was played in November because of COVID-19.
Ridley noted that the only hole that was lengthened on the course this year was No. 2, where 10 yards were added to the tee. The course has constantly added yardage – including 35 last year to No. 13 – in an effort to stay ahead of golf equipment technology and stronger athletes. He’s hoping that a proposed rollback of the distance the golf ball can travel will be approved in January 2028.
“Adding distance to the Augusta National golf course has become standard operation over the past two decades,” Ridley said. “For almost 70 years, the Masters was played at just over 6,900 yards. Today the course measures 7,550 yards from the markers, and we may well play one of the tournament rounds this year at more than 7,600 yards. I’ve said in the past that I hope we will not play the Masters at 8,000 yards. But that is likely to happen in the not too distant future under current standards. Accordingly, we support the decisions that have been made by the R&A and the USGA as they have addressed the impact of distance.”
Referring to what he called the 8,000 yard “red line,” Ridley said “We have some more room, but we don’t have a lot. So I’m holding to that 8,000-yard red line, and I just hope we never get there.”
There was much talk last year that the added distance to the 13th hole – the second-most famous hole at Augusta National after No. 12 – would take some excitement out of the tournament because fewer players would go for the green in two shots, making it a “three shot” par 5.
The club found that on the two dry days in the 2023 Masters that wasn’t the case.
“But one thing I do know for certain is that, in the two days we had data, that more players went for the green in two on their second shot, that went for the green in two, than did the previous year,” Ridley said. “Now, there’s a real simple reason for that. If you look at the scatter chart from the year before there were a lot of balls up in the trees. Last year those same drives didn’t reach the trees and they were a little bit further to the right, the perfect drive. They were further from the green, but they were in the fairway; 250 yards is not a problem for most of these guys. So, it kind of brought back, in a way, that momentous (risk-reward) decision that Bobby Jones talked about and really, in sort of a counterintuitive way, made the hole a more exciting hole. The concern by many was that by making it longer we were going to take the excitement out of it.
“So, I was really happy to see that data, because it really showed that more players are pulling out their hybrids or even three metals or five metals and going for the green and that was established by that data last year.”
Surprisingly, since Augusta National rarely announces club changes off the course, Ridley revealed what he called a “two-phase project that will significantly elevate the experience of all Masters competitors.”
He said Phase 1 will include underground parking and will be operational next year. The second phase, he said, will be finished by the 2026 Masters and “will feature a three-level state-of-the-art facility, designed to anticipate every need for players, their families, and support teams.”
Bubba Watson is one of the better golfers in the world and a former Masters champion, and it looks like excelling in Augusta runs in the family.
During Wednesday’s Par 3 tournament for professional golfers and their families, Watson’s daughter Dakota showed off her incredible putting skills with two very impressive nudges that landed right on target.
Bubba Watson had to be a proud father watching Dakota wowing the Masters crowd like that, as her second putt in particular elicited the type of roaring cheer usually reserved for the weekend.
It’s been nine April’s since Jordan Spieth left Georgia in green.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s been nine April’s since Jordan Spieth left Georgia in green.
And in case he forgot — albeit unlikely — his golf bag can serve as a reminder this week.
AT&T annually designs a commemorative bag for each major championship, according to Spieth. This year, instead of embroidering the golfer’s name in traditional bold letters, AT&T chose a different route — a golden nameplate.
Tiger Woods was forced to withdraw from the 2023 Masters after he made the cut in terrible conditions. It was rainy, windy and the temperature wasn’t what you’d call comfortable.
Players were forced to wear sweaters, winter hats, gloves and anything else in an effort to stay comfortable.
That kind of weather is less than ideal for Woods.
On Tuesday, Woods spoke with the media at Augusta National Golf Club and admitted he prefers hot temps.
“I ache. No, I ache every day. And I prefer it warm and humid and hot. And I know we’re going to get some thunderstorms. So at least it will be hot. It won’t be like last year.”
The rest of the week, however, looks gorgeous and a high of 83 is expected for Sunday’s final round. Exactly the weather Woods will need if he wants his body to perform at the highest level.
As of 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, Woods was listed at -115 to make the cut. He stands at +14000 to win (140/1, $100 would win $14,000), and +330 to finish inside the top 20.
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