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Has Shane Lowry now completed the holy trinity of hole-in-ones?

The Irishman made the third ace of his career at the iconic seventh at Pebble Beach in the opening round of the PGA Tour’s $20million showpiece on Thursday.  Lowry’s other hole-in-ones have come at the 16th at Augusta National and the 17th at TPC Sawgrass.

Quite the collection indeed.

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As per stats guru Justin Ray, the 2019 Open champion is the only player in history to ace each of these three celebrated holes during competition.

“I’ve been very lucky with all the ones,” Lowry said.  “There and Augusta and Sawgrass. Yeah, I don’t know what to say, I guess it’s just luck of the Irish or something, I don’t know. I know I’m pretty good at times, but you know, a bit of luck every now and then is helpful, too.”

Lowry’s magical moment, of course, was made all the more extraordinary by the fact his close friend Rory McIlroy had achieved the same feat just a few hours earlier.

McIlroy made his ace after starting on the back nine at the neighbouring Spyglass Hill, slam-dunking with a sand wedge on the the 119-yard par-3 15th.

“It’s such an elevated tee that the ball’s in the air and you know it’s on line but you don’t know whether to say, ‘Go!’ or ‘Sit!’ or ‘Spin,’ or ‘Release’,” McIlroy said.

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“You’re looking at it and you’re watching where it might land on the green and the thing just disappears. It was a good swing, a good wedge shot and it was obviously a nice little moment.”

McIlroy and Lowry are both in contention in a tie for eighth after posting six-under 66s, leaving them two behind early pacesetter Russell Henley.

No wonder the Ryder Cup teammates were in charitable mood afterwards.

It later emerged that the duo had taken good care of the on-site media after their rounds, making their hole-in-one payment in the form of pizzas and beers in the press centre.

And as the celebrations commenced, it was time to ponder what Lowry has left on his ‘Mount Rushmore’ of holes-in-one.

“I was going to say 12 at Augusta,” he added, “but I’m just happy with pars on that hole.”


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Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.

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