Harrington to the fore for threes

Padraig Harrington
12 April 2012

Padraig Harrington will be trying again for a Masters hat-trick on Wednesday - and the rest of the field at Augusta will not mind one little bit if he does it.

This is not the tournament proper, but the nine-hole par three competition and since it was first played in 1960 nobody has gone on from triumphing in it to win a green jacket four days later.

Harrington "triumphed" in 2003 and 2004, but then missed the cut the first time and was 13th a year later.

South Africans have won for the last three years - first Rory Sabbatini, then Tim Clark and last April it was Louis Oosthuizen.

He also missed the cut in the main event, but became Open champion three months later, of course.

The closest anybody has come to ending the jinx was Raymond Floyd in 1990. He lost a play-off to Nick Faldo.

Record scores were the seven-under-par 20s of Art Wall in 1965 and Gay Brewer in 1973, but for most it is just a fun afternoon when children, parents or friends act as caddies and sometimes even take the shots or putts.

The holes range in length from the 70-yard second to 140-yard sixth and there have been 72 holes-in-one.

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