Gary Player and the Range Goats: 6 things I noticed at The Masters Par-3 Contest

The Par-3 Contest might be the most nauseating part of Masters week, or the most amusing. The most painstakingly cringey televised golf event of the year or some endearing light relief before the real business starts. 

It really depends on who you ask.

Either way, you can’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it and, with the pre-tournament build-up just about wrapped up for everyone, I set about finding out for myself.

Here’s a few quick takeaways from an intriguing hour or so at the Masters Par-3 Contest…

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Wrong place, wrong time

“It’s so beautiful it’s untrue.”

“It’s one of the prettiest things I’ve ever seen.“

“How cool is this?”

For obvious reasons, it’s far from awe-inspiring like the main course but the par-3 layout is still an absolutely divine setting and has the patrons cooing.

The one problem with attending the par-3 tournament, though, is that you always wish you were somewhere else. I found that part out the hard way when Keegan Bradley was busy making an ace on the sixth and I was stranded watching Thriston Lawrence going through the motions as he waited on another tee box. The cheers – or roars, in this case – reverberate around the Georgia pines and you quickly realise something more exciting is always going on elsewhere.

Never mind having a hole-in-one, I’d never seen one live before and I still haven’t after spending the afternoon on a course set-up specifically for them.

Still, it wouldn’t have counted anyway, right?

Player’s Playground

If this really is Gary Player’s least favourite of the four majors, maybe he can at least agree this is his favourite par-3 tournament. After all, this is the three-time Masters champ’s perfect playground.

“God bless America,” he bellowed to the masses, before lifting up a child from the crowd who had asked for a photograph.

What actually was impressive, though, was Player’s tee shot down the hill on the seventh, which danced around the pin and came to stop about four feet away. If I’m still swinging it that good when I’m 89, I’ll be stunned.

LIV mania?

Granted, we’re not exactly in the wild here. But it was still striking to see as much LIV merchandise as I did walking around the short course. There were 4Aces aplenty and an even a Range Goat on site.

Imagine reading that sentence three years ago.

Narrow holes

Aside from the morbid curiosity of wondering how the player in the lead chooses to throw the tournament-that-should-not-be-won, I never spent much time watching this event on TV, and I can’t see that changing.

This harmless event is for players’ families and patrons who want to get up close with the stars – not those of us back home on the sofa. But one thing I did always wonder about the par-3 layout was whether these tiny holes framed by the patrons were as narrow as they appeared on the screen. Turns out they were even more tight than I first imagined.

Playing this course looks ridiculously good fun, but with patrons guarding all sides of the green, the average player would be absolutely terrified of pushing a wedge just off target.

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AimPoint free zone

As we await four days of AimPoint and the other arguably unnecessary green-reading techniques ad nauseum, it was refreshing to see the best players in the world just go up and hit a putt without even thinking about it for once. They were dropping in from all angles, too. Fancy that!

Step up your game, Jason

Did nobody tell Jason Day he could rock up at Augusta National in a suit jacket? The Australian, reprimanded for his garish sweater during last year’s tournament, has been outdone in the fashion statement stakes by compatriot Cam Smith this week.

Smith, believe it or not, was swinging away in a blazer on the practice facility on Wednesday morning.

Anxious not to fall foul of the green jackets, Day’s Malbon wardrobe is far more conservative this year and his black crewneck sweater he was sporting was a suitably safe choice. That might not last, though.

Let’s see what Thursday brings.

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.