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Gary Player, 80, Hits Hole-In-One And Jack Nicklaus Has Amusing Run-In With Security At The Masters

NINE Players Hit A Hole-In-One At The Masters, Including An 80-Year-Old
Gary Player, right, and the gallery react to his hole-in-one from the seventh tee box during the Par 3 contest on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. (Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/TNS via Getty Images)
Charlotte Observer via Getty Images
Gary Player, right, and the gallery react to his hole-in-one from the seventh tee box during the Par 3 contest on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. (Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/TNS via Getty Images)

From an Australian viewpoint, it's all about Jason Day and Adam Scott at this year's Masters which starts Friday morning (AEST).

Scott is the 2013 champ and current world number seven who's running hot with back-to-back wins on the PGA tour. Day is the current world number one who's running even hotter and who also has back-to-back wins.

Rounding out the Australian contingent are world number 31 Marc Leishman, world number 87 Steven Bowditch and world number 102 Cameron Smith, who last time we checked is definitely not the same person as Melbourne Storm captain Cameron Smith.

Day and his son Dash. You just died of cute, didn't you.

Scott tees off Friday morning at 1:05 am, Day at 3:06 am. If you can't wait that long for your golf fix, or if you clicked on this story by accident and completely hate golf, here's some stuff that happened at The Masters overnight which you'll like.

First of all, Jack Nicklaus had issues getting in. Nicklaus is a six-time Masters champ whose wins span three decades at Augusta National. The man many consider the greatest golfer of all time is a well-known face around the place. The first security guard treated him like an old friend. The second, not so much.

Watch from behind the scenes what happened when I arrived to Magnolia Lane and the Masters this afternoon!

Posted by Jack Nicklaus on Tuesday, 5 April 2016

To be fair, when the security guard realised who Nicklaus was, he handled it well. As did Nicklaus himself who said "you're just doing your job". Humility all round. In 2016. Who knew that still happened, huh?

Gary Player, the 80-year-old long-time golfing rival and friend of Nicklaus, had a much smoother day in the par-3 tournament, which is a semi-serious but mostly fun lead-up event on the Wednesday before the tournament proper. He did this. It was his 31st career hole-in-one. Nice.

There were nine -- count 'em, nine -- holes-in one on an unprecedented day of sharpshooting at the 2016 par three tournament. The average over the years has been 1.42. And that's not including the ace world number three Rory McIlroy hit in practice on Tuesday. You can watch some more of them here.

And by the way, you didn't come here for grammar tips but you should know that the plural of hole-in-one is holes-in-one, not hole-in-ones. Don't say you never learn anything reading sports stories.

Meanwhile, Jason Day is a $7 favourite to win The Masters, ahead of Rory McIlroy and last year's runaway winner Jordan Spieth.

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