Masters week formally gets underway on Wednesday, kicking off the slate of occasions with the annual Masters Par 3 Contest at Augusta National. The occasion dates again to the 1960 Masters Tournament, now a staple within the lead-up to Round 1 of golf’s most prestigious main.
The nine-hole occasion incorporates a par-27 structure and serves as a relaxed, family-friendly custom. Players are sometimes joined by members of the family, important others and youngsters serving as caddies, whereas previous Masters champions are additionally eligible to take part.
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The golfer with the bottom rating over the 9 holes wins the contest. However, if a participant permits one in all their company to hit a shot through the spherical, they turn out to be ineligible to technically “win” the occasion, even when they’ve the bottom rating.
Famously, no participant who has received the Par 3 Contest has ever gone on to win the Masters that 12 months.
Nico Echavarria is the defending champion within the Masters Par 3 contest, defeating J.J. Spaun with a birdie on the second playoff gap after going 5-under par in regulation.
Start time: 12 p.m. ET
Location: Augusta National | Augusta, Georgia
TV channel: ESPN
Live stream: Masters.com, Masters app, Disney+
Follow together with Yahoo Sports for the most recent updates and highlights from the 2026 Masters Par 3 contest:
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Chris Cwik
Cam Smith wasn’t going to let a foul place sink his possibilities. With his ball within the sand, Smith managed to hit a birdie, taking a lead within the Par 3 Contest on Wednesday.
Smith have to each get the ball out of the sand and keep away from the lip of the grass along with his shot. He navigated each points completely to sink the birdie and take the lead.
Smith is thru 5 holes, so there’s nonetheless loads of time left for the leaderboard to shift.
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Chris Cwik
The Par 3 Contest is supposed to be enjoyable, and Scottie Scheffler determined to reap the benefits of that Wednesday.
The Masters favourite determined to share a young second along with his son Bennett simply earlier than hitting a ball off the tee.
Both Scottie and Bennett lined up photographs, with Bennett capturing it the flawed means.
Scheffler is likely one of the many golfers not scoring on the occasion, so he’s simply having fun with himself earlier than the primary spherical of the Masters tomorrow.
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Chris Cwik
It’s nonetheless extremely early, however José María Olazábal and Wyndham Clark maintain the early lead on the Par 3 Contest. Both males sit at -1, although Olazábal has performed yet another gap thus far.
A variety of opponents are not scoring on the occasion, slicing the sector fairly low early on. That checklist contains Justin Thomas, who was at -2 by means of 5 holes after his early gap in a single.
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Chris Cwik
What a begin for Justin Thomas! On the second gap of the Par 3 Contest on Wednesday, Thomas picked up a gap in a single.
The shot was extremely positioned, as Thomas put simply the correct quantity of spin on the ball to make it cost again into the outlet after bouncing previous it.
Thomas could have had a bit one thing on the road along with his fellow opponents if his celebration was any indication.
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Kate Magdziuk
An absolute legend on the ninth gap.
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Caroline Fenton, Jason Fitz
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Yahoo Sports Staff
Scheffler heads into the ninetieth Masters as the favourite but once more at +600, however he’s not amongst our picks to win … as a result of that may be no enjoyable.
Here’s a take a look at which gamers our specialists are choosing to stroll away with the coveted inexperienced jacket on the 2026 Masters Tournament:
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Jay Busbee: Bryson DeChambeau (+1200)
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Dan Wolken: Ludvig Åberg (+1400)
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Jay Hart: Jon Rahm (+1000)
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Ryan Young: Ludvig Åberg (+1400)
(*1*)
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Yahoo Sports Staff
Round 1 of the 2026 Masters Tournament tees off on Thursday. Here’s a take a look at the groupings and Round 1 tee occasions:
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7:40 a.m. — Johnny Keefer, Haotong Li
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7:50 a.m. — Naoyuki Kataoka, Max Homa, Carlos Ortiz
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8:02 a.m. — Jose Maria Olazabal, Rasmus Neergaard‑Petersen, Aldrich Potgieter
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8:14 a.m. — Ángel Cabrera, Sami Valimaki, *Jackson Herrington
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8:26 a.m. — Charl Schwartzel, Max Greyserman, Ryan Fox
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8:38 a.m. — Vijay Singh, Matt McCarty, Rasmus Højgaard
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8:50 a.m. — Kurt Kitayama, Kristoffer Reitan, Casey Jarvis
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9:02 a.m. — Bubba Watson, Nico Echavarria, *Brandon Holtz
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9:19 a.m. — Cameron Smith, Sam Burns, Jake Knapp
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9:31 a.m. — Keegan Bradley, Ryan Gerard, Nick Taylor
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9:43 a.m. — Dustin Johnson, Shane Lowry, Jason Day
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9:55 a.m. — Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood, Akshay Bhatia
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10:07 a.m. — Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele
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10:19 a.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa, Russell Henley
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10:31 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young, *Mason Howell
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10:43 a.m. — Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Alex Noren
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11:03 a.m. — Samuel Stevens, Sungjae Im
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11:15 a.m. — Andrew Novak, Tom McKibbin, Brian Campbell
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11:27 a.m. — Mike Weir, Wyndham Clark, *Mateo Pulcini
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11:39 a.m. — Zach Johnson, Michael Kim, Nicolai Højgaard
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11:51 a.m. — Danny Willett, Davis Riley, *Ethan Fang
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12:03 p.m. — Adam Scott, Daniel Berger, Brian Harman
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12:15 p.m. — Fred Couples, Min Woo Lee, *Fifa Laopakdee
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12:27 p.m. — Sergio Garcia, Aaron Rai, Jacob Bridgeman
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12:44 p.m. — Harry Hall, Corey Conners, Michael Brennan
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12:56 p.m. — J.J. Spaun, Maverick McNealy, Tyrrell Hatton
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1:08 p.m. — Jon Rahm, Chris Gotterup, Ludvig Åberg
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1:20 p.m. — Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka
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1:32 p.m. — Sepp Straka, Ben Griffin, Justin Thomas
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1:44 p.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Robert MacIntyre, Gary Woodland
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1:56 p.m. — Harris English, Marco Penge, Si Woo Kim
Note: Players with asterisks denote amateurs
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Yahoo Sports Staff
Did you recognize … no golfer has ever received the Masters Par 3 contest and gone on to win the Masters Tournament in the identical 12 months?
