Aaron Rai ‘wins,’ Frankie Fleetwood steals show at Par 3
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Eight-year-old Frankie Fleetwood stole the show at Augusta National from his father, Tommy Fleetwood, who made just one of several holes-in-one Wednesday at the family Par 3 competition on the eve of the Masters.
The younger Fleetwood went viral last year when he lamented in a post-round interview that he couldn’t get past Ike’s Pond, which faces the ninth green of the par-3 course. So all eyes were on him this year, even after Tommy aced the fourth hole an hour earlier.
“I’m not very confident,” Frankie admitted, “but honestly, on the stand this afternoon, I felt good. So, I feel like I have a chance.”
Frankie made solid contact with his tee shot on the 120-yard hole, but he was off line and the ball splashed to the right of the green. As he collapsed in disappointment, the crowd gathered shoulder to shoulder around the eighth and ninth holes implored him to take a mulligan, so Frankie stepped back and took another big shot. This time the ball missed the green by a few feet.
“I almost got it. A few inches, maybe,” Frankie said.
As Tommy added: “He was happy with his shots, and he was so close too. Another year, right, Frank?”
As for the competition itself, Aaron Rai birdied the final four holes to shoot 6 under and win the competition, although that may not be such a good thing. No one who has won the event has won the Masters in the same year.
Justin Thomas aced the second hole, Wyndham Clark had a hole-in-one at the seventh and Keegan Bradley, Clark’s playing partner, aced the eighth hole to become the first in Masters history to make a hole-in-one in consecutive years in the Par 3 competition.
Former NFL lineman and current ESPN analyst Jason Kelce (associated with Akshay Bhatia) and comedian Kevin Hart (with Bryson DeChambeau) were among the celebrity caddies.
“It’s a special day,” Thomas said. “It’s really fun. Obviously it’s a great day. And hopefully it’s just a good start to a good week.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
