AUGUSTA, Ga. — Nick Taylor, Corey Conners and Adam Hadwin enjoyed an afternoon stroll around Augusta National’s short course, competing together with their wives and kids inside the ropes during the Par 3 Contest.
It was a happy group with Andie Taylor (with Charlie and Harper in tow), Malory Conners (with daughter Reis), and Jessica Hadwin (with daughter Maddox) all along for the ride.
The smiles were big. The golf was fine. The memories will be forever.
“All the kids got tired, which was expected. But it was a lot of fun,” Taylor told Sportsnet, a yawning Charlie in his arms. “Awesome day.”
Taylor is teeing it up at his second Masters, but the 2020 edition did not have a Par 3 Contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hadwin last played in 2018, but he and Jessica hadn’t become parents yet.
Taylor and Hadwin live close to each other in Arizona and Maddox and Charlie are like “two peas in a pod,” Taylor said. The duo sprinted from the tee box to the green on most holes — much to the joy of the crowd — and hugged on the seventh tee box, trying to stay cool while wearing white caddie jumpsuits in the sticky Georgia humidity.
“We try to see each other as much as we can,” Taylor said. “When we’re together in Phoenix, they’re close. It’s pretty funny.”
Taylor knocked his first tee shot of the day in the water and allowed Charlie to putt on almost every hole after that. Nick Taylor’s putter is nearly as tall as Charlie himself (and it’s the opposite hand) so it would often take Charlie five or six swipes — but he always got it in the hole, to the cheers of the crowd every time.
With a laugh, Nick Taylor said he knew Charlie would want to putt and he wasn’t going to fight it all day.
They are amongst the best golfers in the world, of course, but they’re also parents. No need to fight a nuclear meltdown on the eve of the first major championship of the year.
“The amount of people in a practice round, this is probably more than a Sunday of a PGA Tour event. You feel the magnitude of the event,” Taylor said.
“We tried to embrace it. It was fun when he putts, and everyone cheered. Grandparents are here; it was cool for them as well.
“It was just a great day of family fun.”
Rickie Fowler won the Par 3 Contest with a 5-under 22.
There were five holes-in-one — Sepp Straka on No. 5, Lucas Glover on No. 7, and Luke List, Gary Woodland and Viktor Hovland on No. 6. Bryson DeChambeau saved par from the tee on No. 8 after knocking his first in the water and his second in the hole on the fly.
The most aces in the Par 3 Contest was nine in 2016. There were also five in 2015 and 2023.
No one who has won the Par 3 Contest has gone on to win the Green Jacket in the same week.
The Par 3 Contest was not contested in either 2020 or 2021, but Canadians Mike Weir and Mackenzie Hughes split the title in 2022.
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