South Korea’s Si Woo Kim gained his revenge on Royal Troon’s 17th hole in the third round with the first ace in Open history on the par three and the longest in major history.
Kim’s two previous attempts playing the 238-yard penultimate hole had resulted in a double bogey and a bogey but he arrived on the tee having birdied the 16th, his first since the short Postage Stamp eighth, but at seven over for the tournament.
He landed his tee shot short of the green and as it rolled up it tracked all the way to hole.
“My caddie told me ‘You’d better hit hard with a three-iron’ so I did and as soon as I made good contact I see the ball over the fringe (thinking) ‘That must be maybe inside 20 feet’,” he said.
“Then people are yelling at me as I didn’t realise the ball went in. It was amazing. I had plenty of holes-in-one in my life, maybe over 10 times, but I think this is the most memorable hole-in-one because it’s a major and The Open and I was having a hard time on the front nine.
“I was feeling terrible about my shots (at the hole) the last couple of days. I made double Thursday and I made three-putt again yesterday: finally I got the hole-in-one, so I think I like it now.”
The tradition after an ace is to buy drinks for everyone but Kim was not aware of that.
“I’ve got to buy Korean barbecue but it’s not my country so maybe I get fish and chips for my team,” he added.