Source : ABC NEWS
The annual Par 3 Contest on the eve of the US Masters has produced four aces, but Tommy Fleetwood’s eight-year-old son stole the show at Augusta National.
Englishman Aaron Rai, ranked number 39 in the world, birdied the final four holes to win the annual competition with a score of six-under par.
History will not be on Rai’s side this week, as nobody who has won the Par 3 Contest since its inception in 1960 has gone on to win the Masters that week.
Wednesday’s Par 3 Contest had four holes-in-one, including an ace from Tommy Fleetwood.
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But his eight-year-old son Frankie stole the show with a shot that almost cleared the water.
The young Fleetwood went viral last year when he lamented in a post-round interview that he could not clear Ike’s Pond, which fronts the ninth green on the par-3 course. So all eyes were on him this year, even after Tommy had aced the fourth hole an hour earlier.
“I’m not so confident,” Frankie admitted prior to his big shot to the ninth green, “but honestly, on the range this afternoon, I felt good, so I feel like I got a chance.”
Frankie made solid contact with his tee shot on the 120-yard hole, but he was off line and the ball splashed right of the green.
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As he slumped in disappointment, the crowd packed shoulder to shoulder around the eighth and ninth holes implored him to take a mulligan, so Frankie reteed and took another big swing. This time, the ball missed the green by a couple of feet.
“Nearly got it. A few inches, maybe,” Frankie said.
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Justin Thomas aced the second hole, Wyndham Clark had a hole-in-one on the seventh and Keegan Bradley, his playing partner, aced the eighth hole.
Bradley’s ace made him the first player in Masters history to make a hole-in-one in consecutive years in the Par 3 Contest.
ABC/AP
