Clark jinxed?

South African Tim Clark, runner-up to Phil Mickelson in the 2006 Masters, will have to break a hoodoo if he is to triumph on Sunday.

Clark last night won the annual par-three competition by two from Jose Maria Olazabal and American amateur Jack Newman – and did it with a hole-in-one on the 135-yard ninth and final hole.

No winner of the annual fun competition played on the short course adjoining the main Augusta National lay-out has ever gone on to win the tournament proper four days later.

There were other aces from American John Merrick at the second and from Greg Norman at the sixth, with wife Chris Evert acting as his caddie in the fun event.

Sandy Lyle and Ian Poulter both won nearest-the-pin prizes, while Gary Player, who plays his record 52nd and final Masters this year, was joined by fellow greats Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer for the competition.

Player holed his last tee shot just like Clark, but it was his second attempt over the water.