It finally happened. Mikko Ilonen's hole in one on the 14th hole at the KLM Open today is the 1,000th hole in one in European Tour history.
The ace occurred at 9.10am local time during the rain-delayed opening round at The Dutch. The 14th hole is playing host to aBeat The Pro challengeall week but Ilonen gave his amateur no chance to hitting it closer after making his second career hole in one on Tour.
With the milestone finally being reached, we look back the history of the ace on the European Tour.
Following a barren first season in the European Tour’s inaugural year in 1972, when no aces were recorded, there were seven in the 1973 campaign, with little-known EnglishmanCyril Penningtonclaiming the honour of making the first official European Tour hole-in-one during pre-qualifying for the 1973 Benson & Hedges Match Play Championship at Hillside.
The same year, during the first round of The 102nd Open Championship, there were two holes-in-one made at Royal Troon’s par three eighth – the famed ‘Postage Stamp’. One came from 71 year oldGene Sarazen, who was the oldest player in the field, and the other came from the youngest,David J Russell, aged 19.
The1991 Fujitsu Mediterranean Openholds the record for the most holes-in-one in a single European Tour event, with six. That tournament, held at Golf de l’Estérel in Saint Raphael, France, also holds the distinction of being one of just two European Tour events in which an ace was recorded in each of the four rounds, along with the2011 Omega Dubai Desert Classic,and the only event to have had four holes-in-one at the same hole (the second) in the same tournament..
There have been eight instances of three aces being made at the same hole in the same European Tour tournament, most recently on the short 16th at Augusta National in the 2016 Masters Tournament. Additionally, all three of those holes-in-one came on Sunday that year, just the fifth time in European Tour history where a trio of aces have been made on the same hole in the same round of an event and the first since the 2009 Wales Open.
Peter Wilcock(1974 Penfold Tournament),Eamonn Darcy(1991 Fujitsu Mediterranean Open),Elliot Saltman(2011 Wales Open) andKeith Horne(2013 Alfred Dunhill Championship) all have the distinction of having two holes-in-one in the same tournament at the same hole.
Horne, who made his aces on the 12th hole at Leopard Creek on Friday and Saturday that year, initially thought his special feat was going to go unrewarded, with a BMW on offer for a hole-in-one but just on Sunday, before Dunhill decided to present the South African with a car anyway to recognise his extraordinary achievement.
At the same venue, 11 years earlier,James Kingstonmade perhaps the luckiest hole-in-one in European Tour history during the 2002 Alfred Dunhill Championship. Just see for yourself…
Only two players have ever started a European Tour event by making a hole-in-one with their first shot of their first round, and both came at the same hole, on the same course, no less – the tenth of the Centenary Course at Gleneagles. The men in question?Paul Lawrieat the 2000 Scottish PGA Championship andThomas Levetat the 2007 Johnnie Walker Championship.
During the second round of the 2013 Nordea Masters, lightning struck twice forAndrew Dodtas the Australian became the first player to make two holes-in-one in the same round of a European Tour event, with his perfect shots coming at the seventh and 11th holes at Bro Hoff Slott.
There have been 17 tournament winners who have made a hole-in-one en route to victory since the turn of the century, including one in a Major (David Toms– 2001 US PGA Championship), one in a World Golf Championships event (Dustin Johnson– 2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship) and one in the Olympics (Justin Rose– 2016 Rio).Alvaro Quiroshas done it twice (2011 Omega Dubai Desert Classic and 2017 Rocco Forte Open), while four of the above 17 players – including Quiros in 2011 – have made an ace in the final round to help rubber-stamp their paths into the winners’ circle (Thongchai Jaidee– 2004 Malaysian Open,David Horsey- 2011 Trophée Hassan II) andMiguel Angel Jiménez– 2008 BMW PGA Championship).
Indeed, the nickname ‘El Mecanico’ has become synonymous with European Tour holes-in-one, not least for the Spaniard’s always-entertaining celebrations.
Back in May 2015,Jiménezfurther solidified his status as one of golf’s most enduring, entertaining characters by becoming the first man in European Tour history to shoot ten career holes-in-one, overtaking Colin Montgomerie (nine) with a pin-point seven iron during the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club.
It was Miguel’s third ace that year and the second time in his glittering career that he had recorded three holes-in-one in a single season. OnlyElliot Saltmancan claim to have matched that feat, having also made a trio of holes-in-one in the 2011 season.
Miguel's Ten Perfect Shots
1990– Emirates Airline Desert Classic, El Bosque Open, Scandinavian Enterprise Open
1991– GA European Open
2008– Dubai Desert Classic, BMW PGA Championship
2013– Portugal Masters
2015– Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Open de España, BMW PGA Championship
Out of the 1,000 holes-in-one, then, Miguel has made one per cent all on his own. Here are a few of his best…
Another Spaniard, Javier Colomo, alsoclaimed a place in the record books at the 2015 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open. Needing to make a birdie on his 36th hole to make the cut at Heritage Golf Club, Colomo went two better by recording the first hole-in-one on a par four in European Tour history, finding the cup with his driver at the 329-yard ninth for an incredible, unlikely albatross.
Thanks in part to the efforts of Messrs Colomo and Jiménez,an all-time record of 46 holes-in-one were made in the 2015 season, surpassing the previous best of 39 (recorded in 2006) by seven aces.
There were six fewer holes-in-one made in 2016, just shy of the record but still only the second time in history that the mark had reached 40 in 45 years of the European Tour.
Now, with 32 holes-in-one made so far in the 2017 season, including that historic 1,000th, we could yet be on for another record year…
