Rory McIlroy made his first career hole-in-one on the PGA Tour in the first round of the 2023 Travelers Championship on Thursday. He aced the 214-yard par-3 eighth hole to go to 1 under early in his first start after narrowly missing out on major No. 5 at the 2023 U.S. Open last weekend in Los Angeles.
The best part? The way he hits that little baby draw out to the right and slowly brings it back toward the hole.
If you’re surprised that this is ace No. 1 for Rory across more than 230 PGA Tour events, join the club. That’s over 3,000 par 3s that he’s played without a single hole-in-one. Not shocking for regular folks but perhaps a bit more so for one of the best players of the last 20 years.
More importantly, the 1 helped McIlroy get back on track after a 1-over start through the first eight holes of the golf tournament. He’s looking for his second win of the season following a victory at the CJ Cup last fall and the 24th win of his career. In four total starts at the Travelers, he’s never finished inside the top 10 despite always finishing inside the top 20.