AUGUSTA — No player has won the Par 3 Contest and Masters Tournament in the same year.

Nicolas Echavarria beat J.J. Spaun Wednesday in a playoff to earn a chance to break the 65-year-old curse.

Echavarria, the 30-year-old from Colombia, is making his Masters debut. He tees off in Thursday’s first round at 8:24 a.m.

The afternoon was filled with customary scenes of players’ kids and grandchildren, dressed in mini Augusta National jumpsuits, scurrying across greens and sending shots into the waters of Ike’s Pond at the eighth and ninth holes.

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler closed out his round with a one-handed putt while holding his toddler son Bennett. Rory McIlroy’s daughter Poppy sank a lengthy putt at No. 9 that caused a thunderous roar from the patrons.

Three golfers carded a hole-in-one: Tom Hoge at No. 4 and Brooks Koepka and Keegan Bradley on No. 6.

1 / 49

Scottie Scheffler walks with his wife Meredith as he hold his son Bennett on the first hole during the Par 3 of the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Augusta. (Jason Getz / AJC)

Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard pull off a first — twins competing in the same Masters

After 88 years of Masters tournaments, it’s rare to see something that has never happened.

But Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard will make history Thursday as the first pair of twins to compete in the same Masters.

The first round sets up as a special moment for the 24-year-old siblings from Denmark, even if their golf careers didn’t begin on friendly terms.

“I think growing up it was very difficult because we were very competitive,” Rasmus said. “I don’t think we supported each other very much back then. We would fight a lot more than saying congratulations. I think over the years we’ve matured quite a bit.”

Rasmus is making his Masters debut. Nicolai finished tied for 16th last year in his first start. He was inside the top six after each of the first three rounds and briefly held the lead on Saturday.

Nicolai said he shared his approach with his brother and offered tips gleaned from other golfers.

“I said, ‘Ras, this is what I did.’ He can deal with it how he wants to,” Nicolai said.

Rasmus joined Nicolai on the PGA Tour this year after a win at the Irish Open and a runner-up at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai last year.

The pair showed up at the course on Tuesday wearing the same outfit, though Nicolai maintained it wasn’t on purpose.

“Always having someone to practice with, competing against, I think is very helpful,” Rasmus said. “I think we can both say that we probably wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have each other.”

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Morehouse golf team attends practice round

Members of the Morehouse golf team were able to attend the Wednesday practice round for the second straight year. Coach Edgar Evans and his players were joined by Eastside Golf founders Olajuwon Ajanaku and Earl Cooper, two former Morehouse players whose clothing company has become a national force.

Eastside has made sizable donations — including a branded Mercedes van — to help the program get back on its feet. Morehouse won the 2010 PGA Minority Golf Championship but had fallen on hard times.

Evans, who worked as an instructor at the Atlanta Country Club, was hired in 2023 and has helped rebuild the facilities and the program. The Maroon Tigers won their first tournament last month, the LeMoyne-Owen Invitational in Tunica, Miss.

“The program is headed in the right direction,” Evans said. “And to be able to come out here is such a blessing. Our guys are really enjoying it.”

Former UGA golfer Harris English explains why Kirby Smart would be a great caddie

Harris English aims to have a conflict that will keep him from seeing Georgia football’s spring game on Saturday.

English, the 35-year-old former UGA golfer, has made the cut in four of his five previous Masters starts. Evaluating the Bulldogs football team can wait, should he make it to the weekend again at Augusta National.

“I love taping it and watching it,” he said of the spring game.

English is one of seven former Georgia golfers in the field, joined by two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson, Russell Henley, Sepp Straka, Chris Kirk, Davis Thompson and Brian Harman.

The professional Bulldogs are a tight group, according to English, and support in Augusta is always audible.

“Never gets old,” he said. “Dawg Nation is behind us all.”

English said much of what Georgia football coach Kirby Smart uses on the football field applies to golf.

“A lot of us use his mantras out here,” he said.

“‘Keep chopping.’ A lot of what (Smart) preaches is very useful on the golf course.

“Seems like he wakes up every day and he’s ready to get after it. He’s a great motivator, and I would love to have him on the bag in some situations where you need a little kick.”

Viktor Hovland’s Masters edge? His search for the truth about UFOs and aliens

 Viktor Hovland's interest in aliens and UFOs, if you can believe it, might help his golf swing.

The 27-year-old from Norway enters his sixth Masters start with a good chance to contend. But a press conference on Tuesday pivoted to the intellectual worm hole about the universe, a topic fueled by Hovland’s recent appearance on the UAP Files Podcast, where he discussed unidentified flying objects and speculated on life living on places not named Earth.

“It’s just interesting when you have an open mind and you question everything,” he said on Tuesday. “I think even in golf you can get very dogmatic and you look at things as, ‘Oh, this has to be the truth, this has to be correct,’ and sometimes beliefs that you hold the most deeply can obfuscate yourself.”

Hovland has made the cut four times in his previous five Masters appearances, with a best finish of tied for seventh in 2023. He recently won the Valspar Championship, his seventh career PGA Tour victory. After changes the past year to his swing, he appears more comfortable on the course. He’s also at ease wading into other complicated topics.

“Thinking about how big the universe is, there has to be aliens, or whatever you want come them, out there,” he said on the podcast, released earlier this month.

Hovland cautioned curious reporters that he’s open to changing his mind. For him, speculation is most of the fun.

“You don’t have to live and die by every word you read or thing you hear,” he said.

“I think that’s just a fascinating endeavor to engage in, and hopefully it leads you closer to the right direction.”

Angel Cabrera’s polarizing return to the Masters. Should he be here?

Angel Cabrera will tee it up this week at the Masters for the first time since 2019.

Not everybody is thrilled about the former tournament winner’s return.

The 55-year-old Argentinian is back after he was imprisoned for more than two years for threats and harassment against two former girlfriends.

Cabrera said Tuesday “everybody has their own opinion and I respect that,” when asked to address people who don’t think he should be included in the field.

But he insisted he’s earned his spot.

“I won the Masters, why not?”

Cabrera’s presence has drawn criticism from columnists and on social media.

Jamie Klingler, co-founder of Reclaim These Streets social justice organization told the BBC: “It seems as long as male athletes can excel at hitting a ball, we excuse those same men hitting women.”

Cabrera answered numerous questions on Tuesday about his return, stating “life has given me another opportunity.

“There was a stage in my life of five years, four, five years, that they weren’t the right things I should have done. Before that I was OK, so I just have to keep doing what I know I can do right.”

Cabrera won the 2009 Masters in a playoff against Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell. He was South America’s first tournament champion. He also won the 2007 U.S. Open and in April claimed his first win on the PGA Tour Champions in Florida.

“Obviously I regret things that happened and you learn from them,” he said, “but at the same time those are in the past and we have to look forward (to) what’s coming.”

Masters Par 3 Contest, the fun before the storm

The Par 3 Contest Wednesday at Augusta National Golf Club typically provides an afternoon of fun before things get serious at The Masters.

Traditionally, participants invite family members, including wives and kids, and celebrities to caddie for them, sometimes allowing them to tee off or putt.

Players can practice at the range and on the main course in the morning. The contest begins at noon. Sam Snead won the first Par 3 Contest in 1960; Ricky Fowler won last year. Padraig Harrington has the most career wins with three. No player has ever won the Par 3 Contest and the Masters in the same year.

How to watch the Masters Par 3 Contest

Masters Par 3 Contest past winners

Scottie Scheffler’s Champions Dinner menu

The annual Champions Dinner took place Tuesday night at Augusta National. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler’s menu choices:

More than 30 of the 35 former living champions attended. Tiger Woods was not among them. He will not compete in the 2025 Masters after having surgery last month to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon.

1 / 39

Scottie Scheffler tees off on the eighth hole during a practice round at the Masters golf tournament, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Augusta, Ga. (Jason Getz / AJC)