AUGUSTA, Ga. – Ben Crenshaw is in for a busy week at Augusta National. For starters, he’ll play the Masters for a 44th – and final – time. On Wednesday, he’s been asked to step up and fill some pretty big shoes in the annual Par 3 Contest. Crenshaw will sub in for the injured Arnold Palmer as part of the Big Three pairing alongside Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
“We are pleased to announce that Ben Crenshaw has accepted our invitation to join Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player for this year, which we felt was a fitting way to acknowledge the end of Ben’s illustrious 44 years of competition at the Masters," said Augusta National Golf Club chairman Billy Payne. "We look forward to Arnold’s return to the Par 3 Contest next year.”
Palmer still plans to be part of the Masters opening ceremony on Thursday, joining Nicklaus and Player in hitting a ball off the first tee as an Honorary Starter.
“There’s no replacing Arnold Palmer,” Crenshaw said Sunday. “I was just informed of it. Any time I can get close to Gary and Jack … I hope they let me do that. I haven’t talked to them yet, they may throw me out. That’s a privilege.”
Crenshaw, a Masters champion in 1984 and 1995, said he’d been thinking of making this his last Masters for “probably three years.”
“As I was playing last year,” he said, “I was thinking, this course is just a little too much for me. I’m very content to watch people’s progress and how they play it, and how the young players come along.”
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