England’s John Parry delivered the first hole-in-one of this year’s Open Championship on Saturday at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
The 38-year-old European tour veteran aced the 192-yard, par-3 13th hole when his 8-iron off the tee landed in front of the green, bounced a couple of times and dropped into the cup.
“The atmosphere was absolutely amazing,” Parry said of his celebration on the tee, where he shared a high five with playing partner and 1997 Open champion Justin Leonard.
Parry carded a 4-under 67 in the third round to move to 3-under for the tournament, just his second appearance in the Open.
Parry estimated it was “about” the 10th hole-in-one of his career. “Definitely the best one, 100 percent,” he said.
He said he was not expecting the ball to go in.
“No. I did hit a really good shot for once, so it was quite nice,” he said. “It was quite a comfortable shot where I knew I had a big window to land the ball in. It was either going to pitch short and hit the downslope and feed down or — it went in a bit stronger than I thought it would from that distance for what club I hit. But I felt like it was going to be close.”
–Field Level Media
