Masters week for the 86th edition of the tournament kicked off on Wednesday with the Par 3 Contest, but in a rare break from the great mini-tradition, players were unable to finish following two weather delays that led to officials calling it off just before 4 p.m. ET. The 2022 event ends with a three-way tie, meaning Mike Weir, Mackenzie Hughes and Kevin Na will all share the victory.
The Par 3 Contest had not been played since 2019 after being postponed two years amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Nestled on the sprawling property in Augusta near the 18 holes that will soon decide the 2022 Masters champion, it managed to still deliver some exciting highlights in a short span -- including an ace from Jason Kokrak and a near-ace from the legend Gary Player -- before the contest concluded. Kokrak's hole-in-one was the 91st since the Par 3 contest began in 1960.
As usual, Tiger Woods also helped deliver some fun highlights as well. Except his effort did not come on the Par 3 course but rather the par-3 16th hole. Standing alongside Justin Thomas and Fred Couples, the three simultaneously tried skipping the water onto the green, as is tradition. However, only Couples was successful as Woods and Thomas' balls found the drink.
Weir, Hughes and Na all finished as the winners at 4 under, while Larry Mize and Cameron Davis finished one stroke off the winning pace. Bernhard Langer, Si Woo Kim, Thomas Pieters and Joaquin Niemann all finished two off the lead at 2 under.
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The Par 3 contest at the Masters is over. There are concerns about incoming weather, so after a second delay, they're calling it. It finishes with a three-way tie, meaning Mike Weir, Mackenzie Hughes and Kevin Na will all share the victory at 4-under.
The start of the Par 3 Contest was delayed by about an hour because of inclement weather, and now we have our second delay. The participants are clearing the course because of storms in the area, bringing a halt to the festivities right after we had finally gotten our first hole-in-one of the day.
As it stands for the competition we have a three-way tie for first place with Mike Weir, Mackenzie Hughes and Kevin Na all tied at -4. All three have completed their 9-hole round, and if they get a chance to finish the tournament and remain in the lead they will participate in a playoff to decide the Par 3 Contest winner. The playoff involves participants playing the 9th hole of the Par 3 course up to three times to try and determine a winner.
The winner of the Par 3 Contest gets a crystal bowl to commemorate the win, but also carries with them the knowledge that no contest champion has ever gone on to win The Masters. But while it's probably some superstition, there's also a lot of focus on the family involvement as a majority of the competitors end up removing themselves from contention by letting a family member hit or putt along the way. Currently there's only 8 golfers with a score of better than -2, with Mike Weir and Mack Hughes continuing to hold the co-lead at -4.
The 101st hole-in-one in the history of the Par 3 Contest belongs to Jason Kokrak, and it's the first ace of the day here in the 2022 edition of the event. Korak rolled in the hole-in-one on the 4th hole, the same hole that was birdied by both Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler in back-to-back tries back in 2016.
Mike Weir was one of the first on the course and used a strong close to get the clubhouse lead in the Par-3 Contest, and now he's joined by fellow Canadian Mack Hughes with a share of that lead at -4. Masters vets Larry Mize and Bernhard Langer are also among the names to be under par on the leaderboard for the event.
There have been exactly 100 hole-in-ones at the Par 3 Contest since it was added to the Masters week schedule in 1960, and though we haven't gotten any so far today we did see a near ace from Max Homa and several impressive hole-outs from off the green, including one from Hughes at the 3rd.
Mike Weir is indeed the club house leader at -4, and he's got another Canadian on his tail with Mack Hughes currently at -3 thru 5 holes. No one else is closer to -1, as more and more of our stars have handed the club or putter over to a family member and thus see their official spot on the leaderboard moved to "no score."
