Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick became the third player to card a hole-in-one at the 123rd U.S. Open as the par-three 15th continued to provide fireworks.
A third hole in one this week and it’s for the defending champion @MattFitz94! 🤯🎯#USOpen pic.twitter.com/GqMqo6n3j2
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 16, 2023
A day after Matthieu Pavon and Sam Burns made the 49th and 50th aces in U.S. Open history in the first round, Fitzpatrick made it a crowd of three as he enjoyed another memorable moment in his career.
The World Number Eight is the first defending champion to make an ace at the U.S. Open.
The 15th is the shortest of the five par threes on the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club, with the tee brought forward from 124 to 115 yards on Friday.
Eight-time DP World Tour winner Fitzpatrick, who made his Major breakthrough at The Country Club, Brookline, last year, saw his tee shot pitch a few feet to the left of the pin before taking one hop forward, spinning back to the right and into the middle of the cup.
Fitzpatrick was taken aback to hear the celebrations from around the green and the fans in the grandstand behind the tee after he had stopped to follow the ball when he saw it land on the green.
"As soon as I hit it I thought that it had a good chance of going close anyway," he said. "Dead centre. My hand was a bit sore afterward, I'll be honest, after all the high fiving.
"It was so exciting to see it and my first ever professional hole-in-one.
"Without that I probably wouldn't be here for the weekend. So yeah, it was needed."
https://t.co/PFEB5Asrjt pic.twitter.com/DuEPRugC4d
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 16, 2023
The World Number Eight began the second round at one over par after opening the defence of his title with a 71, but after opening his day with five straight pars he vaulted himself into red numbers with his surprise hole-in-one.
He then recovered from a double bogey at the par-four 17th with a birdie at the 18th to play his front nine in one-under-par before a bogey on the seventh saw him sign for a 70.
The only other U.S. Open in which there were three or more holes-in-one on one hole was in 1989 at Oak Hill Country Club when the par-three 6th hole conceded four aces, all in the second round (Doug Weaver, Mark Wiebe, Jerry Pate and Nick Price).
