The Masters Par 3 Contest Curse Still Looms Over Augusta’s Most Lighthearted Tradition

Winning the Masters Par 3 Contest should be a good omen. For over 60 years, it’s been the exact opposite.

Played just before the main event, it’s relaxed, family-driven, and built for fun. But since 1960, no player has won both the contest and the Green Jacket in the same year, turning a lighthearted tradition into something far more uneasy.

The Curse

No one in the history of the Masters has won the Par 3 Contest and then gone on to win the Green Jacket in the same year. More surprisingly, only two players have ever won the contest and later claimed a Masters title.

Ben Crenshaw was already a Masters champion when he took the Par 3 Contest in 1987, having won in 1984 and later again in 1995. Vijay Singh remains the only player to win his first Masters after winning the contest. He won the contest in 1994 and then won the Masters for the first time in 2000.

The curse has seemingly halted the Augusta careers of multiple champions. Sam Snead won the Masters in 1949, 1952, and 1954. However, that tally did not increase after he won the Par 3 Contest in 1960 and again in 1974.

Similarly, Arnold Palmer, who won four times at Augusta National, never won the Green Jacket again after winning the contest in 1967. Tom Watson won the Masters in 1977 and 1981, but after topping the Par 3 Contest in 1982 and 2018, he never added another Green Jacket.

The historical data has convinced many golfers not to press their luck.

Breaking the Curse

The curse came close to being broken in 1990. That year, the 1976 Masters champion, Raymond Floyd, won the Par 3 Contest and was four shots clear with six holes to play in the final round of the Masters. At 47, he was closing in on a record as the tournament’s oldest winner while also threatening to end the curse.

However, the curse held firm. Nick Faldo pulled off one of the most notable final-round comebacks in Masters history to win the Green Jacket. Faldo won his second consecutive Masters, leaving the curse intact.

With the last two winners, Nico Echavarria and Rickie Fowler, finishing 51st and T30 at the Masters respectively, the contest still haunts golfers, with some even choosing to avoid it altogether.