It has been a tradition over the years for players to attempt to skip shots off the water on No. 16 at Augusta National Golf Club during practice rounds. The pros regularly turn that pond into a playable avenue of some sort before things get serious at the Masters Tournament.
But Jon Rahm’s attempt on Tuesday could be the most remarkable, as he skipped his shot off the water, all the way to the back left pin location for a hole-in-one.
“Yeah, pretty nice birthday present,” said Rahm, who turned 26 on Tuesday. “Can’t complain. Hit my normal tee shot to two feet and then skipped it and made it, which is the craziest thing, the second hole-in-one of the week.”
Indeed. Rahm also made a hole-on-one Monday on the fourth hole.
“Well, yesterday it was on 4, I hit a 5 iron, and we didn’t know it went in. A couple people on the green, and we didn’t know until we basically got to the green. But the one on 16 today was visible, so very different. You don’t see people skipping it and actually hitting it on the green very often, and to make it to that back pin, clearly we were all pretty shocked.”
Rahm said he isn’t counting the skip ace towards his career total.
“The one on 16 doesn’t really count as an ace. With the one on 4 yesterday, that’s four. Two in competition,” he said.