Masters Par 3 Contest 2015: Tee times, pairings for Wednesday's event at Augusta

Tiger Woods returns to the Par-3 Contest after a decade away and Rory McIlroy enlists the services of a pop star.

Most of the press conferences are over and the Champions Dinner has come and gone, but one major pre-tournament tradition remains. The annual Par-3 Contest tees off Wednesday afternoon and it will be one of the most-anticipated editions in many years.

Tiger Woods, the four-time Masters champion known for his rote Masters routines, will deviate from his typical schedule and tee it up on the par-3 course. It's the first time he has played in the lighthearted and easygoing event since 2004. He finished that one with a hole-in-one, and then hung it up and didn't play for the next decade.

But this seems to be a different Tiger right now. We're all overanalyzing and extrapolating waaaay too much from two days of practice and a press conference. But whether he's forcing it or it's coming natural, Tiger is definitely acting different this week. And one major change will play out Wednesday, when he plays the most unserious par-3 and has his kids tote his bag in full public view.

Tiger also had his kids out on the range with him and in front of the camera on Tuesday. They've obviously become the most important part of his life, and that's something he has reiterated plenty in recent press conferences about where he is at this stage in his life. Instead of psychoanalyzing it all, it will just be fun to see Tiger out there and his kids running around like so many of the other legends who have their families play such an important role in the par-3.

Taking the same approach as he has through the first two practice days when he played with old friend Mark O'Meara, Woods will play the Par-3 Contest with two of his closest colleagues. Tiger, Steve Stricker, and Fred Couples are set to tee off at 2:48 p.m. ET. ESPN will go live for two hours of coverage beginning at 3 p.m. ET, so most of Tiger's entire loop will be shown on TV.

In addition to Tiger and his family, world No. 1 Rory McIlroy will add to the unique hype of this particular Par-3 Contest when he walks to the tee with a world famous pop star on his bag. One Direction's Niall Horan will loop for the Ulsterman, who goes off at 3:09 p.m. and should also get plenty of coverage during the ESPN broadcast.

Not every player in the Par-3 Contest is also in the main event. There are different circumstances that earn someone an invite. For instance, Billy Horschel and Matt Every, two Florida grads, will play with Buddy Alexander, the retired Gators golf coach who had played the Masters in the past but is definitely not qualified this year. A few of those special invites are scattered throughout the contest.

Here's the full tee sheet for the Wednesday's contest:

Tee Time	Players
11:53 AM	Patrick Reed	J.B. Holmes	Victor Dubuisson
12:00 PM	Jerry Pate	Fred Ridley	Dick Siderowf
12:07 PM	Brandt Snedeker	Charley Hoffman	Jason Dufner
12:14 PM	Antonio Murdaca	Bernd Wiesberger	Anirban Lahiri
12:21 PM	Jason Day	Mark O'Meara	Erik Compton
12:28 PM	Matt Every	Billy Horschel	Buddy Alexander
12:35 PM	Scott Harvey	Vinny Giles	Byron Meth
12:49 PM	Bubba Watson	Webb Simpson	Rickie Fowler
12:56 PM	Stephen Gallacher	Shane Lowry	Padraig Harrington
1:03 PM	Gunn Yang	Sandy Lyle	Ian Woosnam
1:10 PM	Branden Grace	Ernie Els	Mikko Ilonen
1:17 PM	Louis Oosthuizen	Charl Schwartzel	Trevor Immelman
1:24 PM	Corey Conners	Tommy Aaron	Charles Coody
1:38 PM	Kevin Stadler	Craig Stadler	Dave Stockton
1:45 PM	Seung-Yul Noh	Sangmoon Bae	Kevin Na
1:52 PM	Bernhard Langer	Larry Mize	Martin Kaymer
1:59 PM	Nathaniel Crosby	Hubert Green	Fuzzy Zoeller
2:06 PM	Ian Baker Finch	John Senden	Nick Faldo
2:13 PM	Joost Luiten	Danny Willett	Jamie Donaldson
2:27 PM	Brendon Todd	Chris Kirk	Brian Harman
2:34 PM	James Hahn	Robert Streb	Ben Martin
2:41 PM	Miguel Angel Jimenez	Jose Maria Olazabal	Sergio Garcia
2:48 PM	Fred Couples	Steve Stricker	Tiger Woods
2:55 PM	Ryan Palmer	Jordan Spieth	Zach Johnson
3:02 PM	Jack Nicklaus	Gary Player	Ben Crenshaw
3:09 PM	Bradley Neil	Morgan Hoffmann	Rory McIlroy
3:16 PM	Brooks Koepka	Graeme McDowell	Geoff Ogilvy
3:23 PM	Steve Jones	Al Geiberger	Steve Melnyk
3:30 PM	Gary Woodland	Matt Kuchar	Justin Rose
3:37 PM	Angel Cabrera	Ian Poulter	Kevin Streelman
3:44 PM	Cameron Tringale	Tom Watson	Ben Crane
3:51 PM	Camilo Villegas	Keegan Bradley	Russell Henley
4:05 PM	Hunter Mahan	Bill Haas	Dustin Johnson
4:12 PM	Rich Beem	Jimmy Walker	Matias Dominguez
4:19 PM	Ryan Moore	Jonas Blixt

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