Video: Padraig Harrington wins golf’s least coveted prize

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BQo8NNde4w

Rip up your Padraig Harrington betting slip as he has only gone and won the ‘cursed’ Par 3 competition at Augusta for the third time.

The Masters is stuffed with traditions some good, some bad and some just weird. Probably the weirdest ‘tradition’ is that the winner of the Par 3 contest, held every Wednesday before the big one tees off, has never won the following tournament.

The Par 3 event has been going since 1960 so that streak has to end sooner rather than later and we hope it’s this week as our own Padraig Harrington took the title again, this time in a tie with Jonathan Byrd.

This is the Dubliner’s third Par 3 win so we guess he is doing it on purpose and we have decided to take it as sign that his iron play and putting are in good shape and at 90/1, he might be worth an each-way bet if you are feeling brave.

Interestingly, the event was cut short because of yet another storm, after practice was similarly affected on Tuesday. They expect this weather to continue so don’t be surprised if we lose a lot of golf over the weekend, with rounds being rolled over into the following day. It will also soften up the course, so scoring could be lower than normal as the course should play easier.

The Par 3 was called off before either Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods hit the course so we don’t get to see them in this video but we do get to see two hole-in-ones, courtesy of Thomas Bjorn and Mark Wilson. There also some awesome shots from some really old guys. Seriously, if I can even walk at their age I will be happy, never mind hit a golf ball like they do. Impressive stuff.

Enjoy and it has certainly whetted our appetite for tonight's action.