Plenty of firsts will happen throughout the course of golf’s return to the summer Olympic games, but no one will be able to top the feat that Justin Rose completed on his first round of the tournament.
That’s because the veteran, representing Great Britain at these games, hit a hole-in-one during his opening round of the tournament. It is believed that not only is this the first ace in 112 years (the length of the break from the last time golf was contested at the Olympic games), but it is likely the first ace ever in the history of golf at the Olympics.
Justin Rose has just hit the 1st hole in one in history at the Games! #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/l5UPerPFdH
— William Hill Betting (@WillHillBet) August 11, 2016
He hit his ace on the Par-3 fourth hole, helping him back to even after a rough start to his opening round on the previous three holes which saw him at +2 entering what would become a memorable hole for him and the history of golf.
Rose came in to the tournament as one of the favorites, especially after a lot of his fellow top golfers backed out largely over fears of the Zika virus (at least that was what they were telling us publicly).
Even more important, Rose has a lot of rounds to buy once his day is completed. You know, since traditions of golf state those that ace a hole buy a round (on in his case the entire bar a few times over probably).
That shouldn’t be a problem for a man who has eclipsed the $50 million plateau in career earnings as a professional golfer.
Our only question is if he can also manage to become the first to nail a capybara, as the world’s largest rodents have apparently fallen in love with the course as well.