AUGUSTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Tommy Fleetwood on Thursday recorded a hole-in-one for the second straight event, this time at the 16th hole at Augusta National during the Masters first round.
Fleetwood took dead aim with a nine-iron in the late afternoon calm and fired at the pin from 170 yards. His ball landed a few paces in front of the flag and never looked like going anywhere but the bottom of the cup.
The Englishman flung his arms in the air in celebration as the handful of spectators on hand roared.
“It was a lovely looking shot … a couple of bounces and in,” Fleetwood said after a two-over-par 74 that trailed leader and compatriot Justin Rose by nine shots.
It was the 23rd ace at the hole in the Masters, and the 16th this century.
The other par-threes at Augusta have given up just nine between them.
Fleetwood also had an ace during the World Golf Championships-Match Play event in Austin, Texas a fortnight ago.
“It’s really nice to have one at Masters,” Fleetwood said of his ace.
“I’m racking them up all of a sudden quickly. I’ll try to keep it going.”
(Reporting by Andrew Both, editing by Ed Osmond & Shri Navaratnam)
