SEAMUS Power amazingly made back-to-back holes-in-one during the par-three contest ahead of the 87th Masters.
The Waterford man span his tee shot on the eighth back into the hole for an ace and amazingly repeated the feat just moments later on the last on the newly renovated layout at Augusta National.
The world number 34 is the third player to make consecutive aces in the traditional curtain-raiser, joining Claude Harmon (1968) and Toshi Izawa (2002).
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler also made a hole-in-one in bizarre circumstances, the world number one’s tee shot on the ninth plunging straight into the cup after he and playing partners Tom Kim and Sam Burns had teed off simultaneously.
Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson’s hole-in-one on the fourth and one from Tom Hoge on the eighth took the total number of aces in the contest’s history to 107.
Since the event started in 1960, nobody has ever become par-three and Masters champion in the same week.
Back-to-back holes in one! Seamus Power taps into Irish luck at the Par 3 Contest. #themasters pic.twitter.com/dfO5T7yOsJ
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 5, 2023
Meanwhile, Masters chairman Fred Ridley has confirmed LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman was not invited to Augusta National this year.
Norman, who finished runner-up in the Masters three times and blew a six-shot lead in the final round in 1996, would usually be invited as a former Major champion and described the decision as “petty”.
Speaking in his annual pre-tournament press conference, Ridley said: “We did not extend an invitation to Mr Norman.
“The primary issue and the driver there is that I want the focus this week to be on the Masters competition, on the great players that are participating, the greatest players in the world.
“By our decision in December (to allow LIV players to compete) we ensured that we were going to honour and be consistent with our invitation criteria.
“I would also add that, in the last 10 years, Greg Norman has only been here twice, and I believe one of those was as a commentator for Sirius Radio.”
Asked to respond to Norman’s claim that he would never be invited back, Ridley said he would “never say never” and noted there had been no signs of the expected tension between LIV players and those who had remained loyal to the established Tours.
“The tone has been really good here this week,” Ridley added.
“I’ve noticed the players are interacting. Last night at the Champions Dinner I would not have known that anything was going on in the world of professional golf other than the norm.
“So I think, and I’m hopeful, that this week might get people thinking in a different direction and things will change.”
Former champion Danny Willett joked that the spiciest element of the evening was the tortilla soup served as part of Scottie Scheffler’s chosen menu.
“We all respect that we’re in that room because we played some great golf around this golf course at some point in our lives,” the 2016 winner said.
“I don’t think anyone’s silly enough to kind of make that not the theme of the night. It was nice that we were all there and we all had a great time. The main focus there was to celebrate what Scottie did last year.”
