Par-3 event one of the highlights of US Masters week as players, families and fans live up hype Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer stand at the first tee during the par-three at the US Masters. IT'S as if the fun police work only on one side of Augusta National. To stand at the club's high point - behind the 10th tee - and look right over the Masters course brings an overwhelming sense of tradition, expected behaviours and a stubborn refusal by its custodians to bend even slightly from its staid past. But turn left on Masters Wednesday, past the cabins and down over the hill and it becomes a walk on the wild side. The par-three competition, first held in 1960, is played over and around DeSoto Springs Pond and Ike's Pond, in a picturesque and boutique 965m setting that inspires joy, creativity, history, unmissable family moments and all the fun that professionalism in many modern sports has jeopardised. Players get RSI signing caps and flags on every walkway between green and tee. Cameras click frenetically just metres from their owners' idols, yet nobody bats an eyelid. On greens with slopes, pins are cut to maximise the chances of holes-in-one. With so many near misses - and two flags being hit - the noise that echoes around the tranquil valley is spine-tingling. Minutes before dual Masters champion Ben Crenshaw popped the 77th ace in the contest's history, the increasingly popular Nick Watney flew his tee shot just over the 9th pin, then watched expectantly as it spun then trickled down the bank and into the cup. But far from the customary doffing of the hat, Watney jumped around the tee as if he'd won Tattslotto. He and good mates Jason Day and Webb Simpson chest bumped as if in a Guns 'N Roses moshpit. The crowd loved it. Then 1979 champ Fuzzy Zoeller, a revered showman, wandered past a group of children clambering for autographs near the same green. With the serious business about to start, players, both young and old, let their hair down in the traditional Masters warm-up. But instead of signing his umpteenth flag for the round, Zoeller issued a challenge to a young girl from South Carolina, Lilly Phillips, to make his birdie putt to earn his signature. In a moment she'll never forget, she wandered onto the day's biggest stage and, despite missing the putt, lived out a sporting dream few will ever experience. She returned to her family and sat with eyes glistening in the brilliant Georgian sun with a smile that will take weeks to wipe away. Three Aussies yesterday involved their young families, as did several other players. Marc Leishman hammed it up with young son Harvey with pregnant wife Audrey his caddie. Jason Day did likewise with wife Ellie as their nine-month-old son Dash broke several hearts as they wandered around. Jason Day and son Dash enjoy the relaxed environment at the par-three competition. And there was no one more excited than John and Jackie Senden's son Jacob, who nearly holed a curling birdie putt on the ninth after months of practice on the family's backyard green. But then, for generations of fans too young to have seen their wars and wizardry on the other side of the hill, a trio locked together by Masters folklore stole the show. Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer - holders of a combined 13 green jackets - simply took the breath away from a crowd straining to show respect for their heroics over almost six decades. It was almost surreal. Player, a spritely 77, ferretted in a birdie chip from off the back of the sixth green and saluted as if he'd roared into the Masters lead on Sunday, just as he did all those years ago. There were a few moist eyes watching on. A Pennsylvania gent's voice cracked as he spoke of the time he saw Player become the first international Masters champion in 1961 as he reached for his handkerchief. It's hard to conceive of another event of such global importance that takes the time to make so many people so happy. And it shouldn't be overlooked that the battles ahead on the stuffy side of the hill aren't the only indelible memories that will be forged at Augusta this week.