Pray for the millions of golfers out there who have never made a hole-in-one, as we all watched in shock seeing Seamus Power walked it off during the annual Par 3 Contest at Augusta National with back-to-back aces.
Yes, the Irishman earned holed out on the eighth and ninth holes to head into tomorrow’s first round with the most positive of vibes. Heck, he was making so many holes-in-one he forgot to grab the second one from the hole – not long after, Scottie Scheffler made an ace of his own and hit Power’s ball, lying in the cup still, on the fly. Bare with us, there’s certainly a lot happening.
SEAMUS POWER WITH BACK-TO-BACK ACES.pic.twitter.com/NJajiykY6L#themasters
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) April 5, 2023
Power quickly etched his name into a few random Augusta trivia questions. He became the fifth Irishman ever to have a hole-in-one in the Par 3 Contest after Darren Clarke (2001, second hole), Pádraig Harrington (2006, ninth), Graeme McDowell (2010, ninth) and Shane Lowry (2019, second), and he is just the fourth player ever to have two holes-in-one in the same Par 3 Contest.
Scottie Scheffler slam dunked it. Seamus Power forgot to get his ball after his second consecutive ace. The guy in green you see took it out, saw the group hitting their shots and left Seamus’ ball behind as he was running out of the way.
— Fire Pit Collective (@firepitstories) April 5, 2023
These tidbits might seem a bit arbitrary, but Power, his fellow tour pros and the adoring crowd certainly had a good time seeing such a startling back-to-back run that took a little longer than five minutes.
What does one do with two aces in one day? Do you have to buy drinks after the round and again the next day? Do you immediately go and buy some lottery tickets? Do you have to high-five every fan at Augusta? These are quandaries we’d love to face head on, so we’ll be living vicariously through Power.
The Irishman is set to tee off in the first round at 9:48am, Augusta time, and he’ll undoubtedly be riding a high heading up to that first tee. His playing partners, Bubba Watson and Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira, will surely be hoping that some of Power’s luck makes its way to the rest of the group.
Tom Hoge, meanwhile, claimed the Par 3 title for 2023 at six-under and thus carries the “Masters curse” into the tournament proper (no player has claimed the Par 3 Contest and green jacket in the same year).
FULL MASTERS COVERAGE:
https://www.australiangolfdigest.com.au/tournaments/themasters/
