IN THE LOOP: Rory McIlroy (above) had his girlfriend, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, on his bag for yesterday’s Par-3 Contest at Augusta National. Also participating was Luke Donald and his daughter Sophia (bottom left) and Bubba Watson (bottom right) with his son Caleb. (
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AUGUSTA, Ga. — For the first time in memory, the Masters’ Par-3 Contest provided some end-game drama Wednesday as Ted Potter Jr. defeated Phil Mickelson and Matt Kuchar in a playoff.
Adding intrigue to the annual pre-tournament, fan-favorite event was Bo Van Pelt’s show of superstition when, with the lead at 5-under, he disqualified himself from winning by letting his daughter, Olivia, putt out on No. 9. No player who has won the Par-3 Contest has gone on to win the Masters.
Mickelson, who finished 4-under along with Kuchar, Ernie Els and Nick Watney, waited around for the playoff because he said, “I want to win the thing.’’
“Phil has been wanting to break the curse for years,’’ Mickelson’s wife, Amy, said as he was about to tee off on the playoff hole with Kuchar and Potter. “I have mixed emotions about it. There is something mystical about this place.’’
On the first playoff hole, No. 8, after Mickelson left his shot some 35 feet from the flag, Kuchar stuffed his shot to within two feet. Potter hit his tee shot to about 30 feet but forced a second playoff hole when he drained the birdie putt while Mickelson was eliminated when he missed his birdie try.
Potter won the playoff with a birdie on the ninth hole, the second playoff hole. Nick Watney, who had a hole-in-one on the ninth hole to get to 4-under, and Els, who also finished 4-under, had left the grounds already and did not return for the playoff.
Rory McIlroy’s caddie for the Par-3 Contest was his star tennis player girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki, whom he let putt out on the ninth hole.
Rickie Fowler played in his third Masters Par-3 and kept it in the family. He had his grandfather caddie for him in his first one, then last year had his dad on the bag. Yesterday, his grandmother looped for him.
Tiger Woods continued his tradition of not playing in the Par-3. He has not played in it since 2004.
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After building some sort of odd intrigue for weeks by not revealing the menu for his Tuesday night Masters Champions’ Dinner, Bubba Watson’s dinner looked like it came right off of an Applebee’s menu — Caesar salad, grilled chicken, macaroni and cheese, cake and vanilla ice cream.
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Masters chairman Billy Payne Wednesday announced some alterations to the tournament’s qualification process, saying that the winners of each of the six PGA Tour events this fall to start the 2013-14 season will earn invitations to the Masters next year.
Last December, the Tour announced its newly structured schedule, with the six season-opening events taking place of the former Fall Series starting this October. Because all six events will offer full FedExCup points, the winners will get an invitation to the Masters starting next year.
Payne also revealed three other qualification changes:
* The top 12 finishers (and ties) at the Masters this year will qualify for next year’s event (a decrease from the top 16).
* The top four finishers (and ties) at the U.S. Open this year will qualify for the next year’s event (a decrease from the top 8).
* The top 30 in the PGA Tour’s final money list has been removed as one of the qualifications. But the top 30 in FedExCup points who qualify for the Tour Championship remains as one of the Masters qualifications.
Of the 11 players who qualified for this year’s Masters from the top 30 money list, every one of those players also would have qualified under a different category, either by having won a full-points PGA Tour event or reaching the Tour Championship.
Payne also announced that the Masters cut will go from top 44 scores and ties to top 50 and ties in an effort to get more players into the weekend.
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Considering the successful run of the European Ryder Cup side has been on, the fact no European player has won the Masters since Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal in 1999 is a surprise.
“We just haven’t performed very well, simple as that,’’ Englishman Ian Poulter said. “I think the guys are disappointed, to be honest.’’