AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Padraig Harrington and Jonathan Byrd each shot a 5-under 22 and were declared winners the annual Par 3 contest.
The family-filled Wednesday celebration came to conclusion about 3:30 p.m. when thunderstorms forced the evacuation of the course and the end of the nine-hole tournament.
In the 62 years of Par 3 contests, no player has won the traditional warm-up event and gone on to win the ensuing Masters.
Harrington must not care about jinx because this was his third Par 3 victory. Nobody else has won it three times, although he shared it in 2003 with David Toms -- another rain-shortened event.
"The scoring was on," Harrington said. "Actually pretty average shots. I just played pretty nicely for nine holes."
Legendary starters
Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player will gather this morning on the first tee as honorary starters to the 76th Masters and each hit a drive down the first fairway.
Then the Masters will officially be under way.
"Between us, we were so competitive, we wanted to beat each other so badly and we did on a lot of occasions," Player said Tuesday. "We had our share of beating each other."
They combined to win 13 Masters and 34 majors over the course of their careers.
"The nice thing about it is when we did lose, we looked the other in the eye and said, 'Well done, but I'll get you next week,'" Player said. "That was our history of being together."
Lift, clean and place?
Masters officials will determine this morning if the players will be able to lift, clean and place their ball due to wet conditions.
It's a common rule adjustment for amateur, area and even regular PGA tournaments, but not in majors -- especially the Masters.
"We surely would not want to have to do that," Masters chairman Billy Payne said Wednesday morning. "That would be a decision very difficult to make.
"However, we are also bright enough to know that weather conditions can have an impact on that, and possibly cause us to change our minds on that issue."
Els absent
Ernie Els has played 18 in Masters tournaments and finished runner-up in 2000 and 2004.
But he did not qualify for the tournament this year. The only way he could have participated was if Augusta National offered a special invitation. There was barely any discussion.
"I'd like to say that we are great fans of Ernie," Payne said. "He's a great player, and we expect him to be back with us shortly and often.
"But after evaluating all of the circumstances, we chose obviously not to extend an invitation but look forward to seeing him soon."
More weather expected
The forecast for today from the Weather Channel calls for scattered showers and a thunderstorms in the afternoon. A few storms may be severe.
The Masters last had a delay in 2008. The first round was delayed an hour due to fog and the third round was suspended for 45 minutes due to approaching dangerous weather.