Magic on 13: This golfer has hit 10 career aces. This one was his best

On the first green at Royal Portrush, as Marc Leishman stared at his 25-foot putt looking to start his third round with a birdie, the crowd erupted over his right shoulder.

It wasn’t for Irish hero Rory McIlroy. He was still two hours away from teeing off.

The noise came from the 13th green – a 176-metre downhill par three. It shares a corner of the course with the 17th, and the grandstands between them form a natural amphitheatre, primed for moments like this.

The eruption came from both sides of the green because Englishman John Parry had just made a hole-in-one.

The ball pitched near the front of the green, held its line, and disappeared.

John Parry reacts after a hole in one on the 13th hole.Credit: Getty Images

Parry, 38, from the spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, turned instinctively and high-fived the first person he saw — his American playing partner Justin Leonard. Then Leonard’s caddie. Then his own.

It was likely the first — and perhaps the only — ace of the 153rd Open Championship.

Asked how many he’d now had in his career, Parry grinned.

“I think it’s about 10,” he said. “But it was definitely the best one. Yeah, 100 per cent.”

He said he was not expecting the ball to go in.

“No. I did hit a really good shot for once, so it was quite nice,” he said.

“It was quite a comfortable shot where I knew I had a big window to land the ball in. It was either going to pitch short and hit the downslope and feed down or – it went in a bit stronger than I thought it would from that distance for what club I hit. But I felt like it was going to be close.”

It was the second-biggest cheer of the week at Royal Portrush. While a hole-in-one is always exciting at any tournament at any level, nothing can compete with McIlroy in Northern Ireland.

McIlroy received that sort of raucous applause every time he made birdie on the front nine (which was three, in case you were wondering).

Parry was proud that he was able to gather himself after the excitement of an ace at the Open. He made par on the next hole before birdying 15 to finish with a four-under round of 67.

“It’s one of those where you can almost get a bit carried away and then it all goes downhill.”

That’s OK, we all got a bit carried away for you.

Sam McClure travelled to the British Open with the assistance of Golf Australia.

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