Superstitious Luke Donald stays out of Par-three contest on Wednesday ahead of the Masters
Englishman Luke Donald has declined to participate in the Par-three contest on Wednesday. He said that he wants to concentrate on the main event and not the traditional stuff that comes along with the coveted Masters at Augusta National.
The Par-three contest has a lingering superstition with it and none of the players who have gone over to win the traditional warm-up event has gone over to win the main title.
Although Donald has rejected any such vibes being the reason of his staying out of it, it predominantly must be the reason why the world number one has decided to opt out of it.
He said, "Last year I actually had a very focused goal of trying to win both of them, and it was something that I wanted to do, something that was different, to try and defy convention I suppose".
"And I almost did it. I had a good chance at winning both but this year I'm just going to concentrate on the main one".
Apart from several traditional warm-up events associated with the golf’s most celebrated event, Par-three event is staged on a nine-hole course.
The players try to edge past the rest of the contenders to display their might. The event was introduced in 1960 and was won by Sam Snead the same year.
There have been players who have won the event in successive years including Pádraig Harrington, Sandy Lyle, and Sam Snead but none of the par-three winners have ever won the Masters itself.
The golfers are allowed to have their children help them as caddies to impart a more congenial and family environment to the event.
Donald further added, “As fun as it is, I’m not sure playing on greens that are not quite the same the afternoon before the first round seems the best preparation for me”.
Donald has won five times in the last 14 starts on both sides of Atlantic and is the only player in the history of the sport to rise to the top of the money lists on both PGA and European Tours.
He is hoping to bag his first major title of his career at the Augusta National amid stiff contenders of the likes of Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods.
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