What the Par 3 Contest Told Us About Rory McIlroy's 2015 Masters Chances

Rory McIlroy was in the field at Augusta National’s Par 3 Contest on Wednesday, but winning the annual pre-Masters event never seemed to be on the world No. 1’s mind.

While fellow pros Kevin Streelman and Camilo Villegas were heading toward a playoff (which the former would ultimately win), McIlroy was already heading off to accept the U.S. golf writers’ Player of the Year award.

During the contest, McIlroy didn’t exactly look determined to win at any point, but his casual demeanor throughout Wednesday afternoon was actually a good sign for the player looking to complete his career Grand Slam.

For the Northern Irishman, the benefits of the Par 3 Contest were all psychological. The lighthearted atmosphere, less intense media focus and additional opportunity for a little more putting practice on Augusta greens will all have a positive affect on McIlroy’s performance at the tournament proper.

Let’s take a look at what all those factors could mean to the aspiring Masters champion. 

First off, the Par 3 Contest isn’t all about winning (in fact, the Par 3 winner has actually never gone on to win that year’s Masters, per Golf Digest). It’s really more of a time for family-friendly photo ops and humorous shenanigans from past legends of the game—like this example of Arnold Palmer trolling Ben Crenshaw after he missed the first green (h/t Business Insider):

McIlroy went above and beyond to embrace the sociable atmosphere by inviting One Direction heartthrob and fellow Irishman Niall Horan to be his caddie for the day:

The two shared a few laughs, and McIlroy even lent Horan his club to take a tee shot on the ninth hole. Horan put it in the water, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Immediately after completing his nine-hole round at one under par, a smiling McIlroy told ESPN on the live broadcast he felt it was “important” to go into the tournament proper “in a relaxed mood.”

That sounds like a very wise approach to this year’s Masters, considering the disappointing mental collapse of 2011 that saw him relinquish a four-stroke lead in the final round is still relatively fresh in his memory.

Though he ended up falling all the way to 15th place that year, the now 25-year-old quickly rebounded to claim the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA Championship, before finishing 2014 with back-to-back major victories at the British Open and PGA.

McIlroy clearly has the talent needed to win his first green jacket, but it seems the pressure of finalizing his career Grand Slam has been (arguably) the biggest obstacle to an inaugural win at the famed Georgia course.

“The first tee shot of this tournament is the only shot I get nervous about these days,” said McIlroy, according to Sky Sports. “You get butterflies and your heart races a little bit. I still get that feeling that I did when I was a rookie.”

However, the good news for McIlroy is that the return of Tiger Woods after a 63-day hiatus from competitive golf has alleviated some of the media pressure on him. As Chris Chase of USA Today argued:

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By deciding to play Augusta as the first tournament of his comeback, Tiger Woods has taken all that media focus, and pressure, away from McIlroy this week and placed it squarely upon himself, where it’s been for most of the past two decades anyway. This is a bigger deal than it seems. Rory hasn’t had to face such a turn in the limelight thus far in his career.

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And the fact that Woods—with his adorable kids in tow—played in the low-key Par 3 Contest for the first time since 2004 did even more to deflect the cameras (in addition, of course, to McIlroy’s own clever move of selecting a world-famous pop icon as his caddie).

Put it all together and you’ve got the world No. 1 who, in the words of ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi (via the live television broadcast), looks “remarkably loose” heading into Thursday’s opening round.

And let’s not forget that Wednesday’s “relaxed” McIlroy still finished the Par 3 Contest under par. Granted, those nine holes were nowhere near as challenging as the actual championship course, but their greens play the same as those on Amen Corner or anywhere else at Augusta.

If a solid round of putting on Masters-caliber greens isn’t enough to build some last-minute confidence then what is?

McIlroy is still the favorite to win at 6-1 odds, per Odds Shark, but a little fun in the form of a Par 3 Contest—and a little media relief in the form of a returning Tiger—could go a long way in lessening the load of that weighty label.

Birdies at Wednesday’s Par 3 Contest may not count toward winning the Masters, but the intangible psychological benefits it gave McIlroy certainly could help the Northern Irishman to his first green jacket.