AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Eight-year-old Frankie Fleetwood stole the show at Augusta National from his dad, Tommy Fleetwood, who merely had one of the many holes-in-one Wednesday during the family friendly Par 3 Contest on the eve of the Masters.
The young Fleetwood went viral last year when he lamented in a post-round interview that he couldn't clear Ike's Pond, which fronts the ninth green on the par-3 course. So all eyes were on him this year, even after Tommy had aced the fourth hole an hour earlier.
“I’m not so confident,” Frankie admitted, “but honestly on the range this afternoon I felt good, so I feel like I got a chance.”
Frankie made solid contact with his tee shot on the 120-yard hole, but he was off line and the ball splashed right of the green. As he slumped in disappointment, the crowd packed shoulder to shoulder around the eighth and ninth holes implored him to take a mulligan, so Frankie reteed and took another big swing. This time, the ball missed the green by a couple of feet.
“Nearly got it. A few inches, maybe,” Frankie said.
“He was happy with his shots, and he was so close as well,” Tommy said. “Another year, right, Frank?”
As for the competition itself, Aaron Rai birdied the last four holes to shoot 6 under and win the Par 3 Contest, though that may not be such a good thing. Nobody who's won the event has gone on to win the Masters in the same year.
Justin Thomas aced the second hole, Wyndham Clark had a hole-in-one on the seventh and Keegan Bradley, his playing partner, aced the eighth hole, becoming the first player in Masters history to make a hole-in-one in consecutive years in the Par 3 Contest.
Ex-NFL lineman Jason Kelce (Akshay Bhatia) and comedian Kevin Hart (Bryson DeChambeau) were among the celebrity caddies.
“It's a special day,” Thomas said. “It's really fun. Obviously a beautiful day. And hopefully just a great start to a great week.”
Thinking of the Middle East
Fleetwood and his family moved from England to Dubai in 2022 and settled at the Jumeirah Golf Estates, where he runs the Tommy Fleetwood Academy. But when war escalated in the Middle East, and bombs began falling in the United Arab Emirates as he played in the U.S., Fleetwood was able to get his family on a flight back to England.
They joined him at Augusta National for the Masters this week.
“The main thing is hoping that everybody is always safe,” Fleetwood said, "whether that be family, friends, whatever is going on — students — whatever that is. I think we have no impact on what is going on in the world at any given time, but you just hope that anyone that is close to you or associated with you or anybody in general is safe. That’s the main thing."
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Pros: They're just like us
Turns out that those playing in the Masters would do the same thing as those watching if they were patrons at Augusta National: They would spend gobs of money on merchandise, devour a few $1.50 sandwiches and throw back a couple of $6 beers.
“Probably have to do the merch tent first,” Min Woo Lee said. “I’m sure there is a shipping situation there, so you spend at least one to two thousand dollars, I would say. I think that’s pretty average.”
He's not far off. Nobody knows for sure, but most estimate the average patron spends close to $1,000.
Want a cheaper souvenir? The cups filled with beer — domestic or a proprietary craft brew called “Crow's Nest” — carry the Masters logo. Patrons will stack them inside each other throughout the day, often a half-dozen or more.
“Probably trying to take advantage of that price and have a lot of beers,” J.J. Spaun said. “Yeah, I would be getting a snake-cup thing, whatever they do at baseball games. The snake with all the cups. Definitely enjoy the day out here.”
Follow the tracks
Augusta National is tracking every shot hit on the practice range this week and some of the stats are surprising.
On Tuesday, for example, nobody hit more balls than 60-year-old Jose Maria Olazábal. The two-time Masters champ hit 243 down the range, which is meticulously designed to replicate many of the shots players face on course. Ben Griffin, who is 29, also hit 243.
“I would be interested to see what kind of shots people hit,” Fleetwood said. “It’s a great week where you can play the course on the range. You know the shots. You know the tee shots. You can visualize it on the range. The range is kind of set up for that. You have some different slopes and undulations around the short game area. So there’s a lot you can do with that.”
Aldrich Potgieter, 21, logged the most shots on any day this week with 249 on Monday. Most players hit between 50 and 100 balls on any given day, while Fleetwood and Harris English needed just 21 to warm up for their practice rounds.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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