By Rory Carroll
AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) – Nicolas Echavarria got his Masters week off to a promising start as he won the Masters Par-3 Contest in a playoff over J.J. Spaun on Wednesday on the eve of the year’s first major championship.
Echavarria and Spaun finished regulation level at five-under-par 22 but the Colombian sealed the win with a birdie on the second playoff hole at the short course at Augusta National Golf Club.
Echavarria said he hopes to break the Masters curse in his first appearance at the tournament as no Par-3 Contest winner has won that week’s major the same year.
“It feels awesome,” said Echavarria, 30.
“Hopefully we change the tradition of never winning the Par-3 Masters Contest and the tournament itself. We’ll see about that.
“But having a blast out here.”
Keegan Bradley, Tom Hoge and Brooks Koepka all recorded aces at the event that has long been a highlight of Masters week. It has become a family affair with children, grandchildren and spouses all getting in on the action.
“I’ll remember that just as much as my other memories in the game of golf,” Bradley said after his hole-in-one on the sixth.
“To have my family there to watch it go in and to have my boys right there. That was special.”
Bradley’s son Logan described the moment succinctly. “That was so nice,” he said.
Also in the field was Rory McIlroy, who was accompanied by wife Erica and daughter Poppy, who rolled in a long putt on nine for one of the day’s highlights.
The Northern Irishman can capture the elusive career Grand Slam with a win on Sunday and relished the opportunity to relax.
“Masters week seems to get bigger and bigger for me every year and to do something like this, it makes me forget about that for a couple hours on the Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s a relaxed way to go into the business end of the week.”
(This story has been refiled to correct the spelling of Colombia in the headline)
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Augusta, Georgia; Editing by Chris Reese)
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