Anand Datla
April 06, 2016: Anirban Lahiri is making a habit out of enjoying the pre-event traditions at the major championships. At the PGA Championship last year, he won the driving contest over a packed field of top quality stars. And though he did not win the Par-3 contest on Wednesday (perhaps mercifully so, since no Wednesday winner has ever won the Masters), Lahiri played well alongside Nick Faldo and Angel Cabrera. The Indian finished on the first page of the leaderboard, taking just 24 shots for his nine hole trek. Jimmy Walker set the course on fire, winning by three strokes over Keegan Bradley and Chris Stadler. Walker needed just 22 strokes to get through the nine holes of the spectacular par-3 course at Augusta.
The Par 3 is more a tradition than is competition and with Faldo in the mood for some humour, the group enjoyed a merry ride up and down the undulating Par 3 course that runs around the banks of the lake cradled in a valley like setting just behind the clubhouse.
There were hole-in-ones at the second, fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth holes as the golfers regaled the packed banks with some aggressive ball striking.
Keegan Bradley and Chris Stadler were joint second at 5-under 22, while four players including Dustin Johnson and Zach Johnson were tied in four at 4-under.
Anirban Was behind that group in a three way tie with Bernhard Langer and Martin Kaymer.
