Nico Echavarria claimed a play-off victory in The Masters Par-3 contest at Augusta National, as Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler featured ahead of the opening major of the year.
Echavarria and JJ Spaun registered five birdies each in their bogey-free 22s to finish top of the leaderboard at the annual Wednesday event, with both players then exchanging pars on the first extra play-off hole.
The players returned to the ninth hole for a third time, where Echavarria fired his tee shot to three feet and made a winning birdie as Spaun – who lost a play-off to McIlroy in The Players last month – had to settle for second after a closing bogey.
Echavarria – making his Augusta National debut – is now looking to become the first player to win Par-3 Contest and The Masters in the same week, while three players fired holes-in-one during a memorable competition.
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“It feels awesome,” Echavarria said. “Hopefully we change the tradition! We’ll see about that, but we had a blast out there. It feels incredible.”
2023 Par-3 champion Tom Hoge registered a hole-in-one on the fourth hole, as Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and five-time major winner Brooks Koepka both made aces on the sixth hole.
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England’s Tyrrell Hatton finished a shot off the pace in third, with former Masters champions Bubba Watson and Mark O’Meara two strokes back in tied-fourth alongside Davis Riley, Matt McCarty and Laurie Canter.
Former world No 1 Justin Rose and Rasmus Hojgaard posted two-under 25s to finish inside the top 10 alongside US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, with Sir Nick Faldo part of the group on one under.
Only 20 players carded an official total, with many of the field not registering their scores after letting wives, partners, friends, children and even grandchildren take shots for them.
McIlroy featured alongside his daughter Poppy, who received one of the loudest cheers of the day for holing a long-range putt on the ninth hole, while Tommy Fleetwood’s son Frankie left the players in stitches following his impressive interview on Sky Sports.
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Attention now turns to the tournament itself, where Scheffler looks to become the first back-to-back winner of The Masters since Tiger Woods and McIlroy has another opportunity to complete the career Grand Slam.
When is The Masters live on Sky Sports?
Sky Sports Golf will be showing record hours of live coverage from the 2025 contest, including more action over the final two rounds than previous years. Wall-to-wall coverage from the tournament begins at 2pm on Thursday, with Featured Group action and regular updates until the global broadcast window begins at 8pm.
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The same timings will apply on Friday, while a new addition to this year’s coverage sees a Masters build-up show live from 3pm over the weekend ahead of full coverage starting at 5pm, covering all the action until after the close of play.
Sky+, Sky Q and Sky Glass will provide plenty of bonus feeds and allow you to follow players’ progress through various parts of Augusta’s famous layout, including Amen Corner and more.
Who will win The Masters? Watch throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage of the opening round begins with Featured Groups on Thursday from 2pm on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.
