Minjee Lee makes par-4 ace at Kia Classic; 2nd in LPGA history, 2nd this year
It’s becoming an epidemic on the LPGA: par-4 holes-in-one.
In 66 previous LPGA seasons, there had never been one. On Saturday at the 2016 Kia Classic, Minjee Lee made the second par-4 ace in the last two months.
Playing the 234-yard par-4 16th at Aviara Golf Club during the third round of the tournament, Lee used a 5-wood to ace the downhill hole for an albatross that moved her to 3 under par on the round. The tee on the 275-yard hole had been moved up for the third round. The ball landed just short of the green, got a friendly bounce left and then stalked its way into the hole after hitting the flagstick.
Lee, who played alongside Morgan Pressel for the third round, said this was the first ace of any kind in her life.
“I didn’t see it go in,” said Lee, according to Golfweek. “(Morgan) was just like ‘Oh!’ and I was like ‘Yay!’”
The Aussie wound up shooting 2-under 70 to get to 5-under 211 and trail leader Lydia Ko by nine shots entering the final round.
Ha Na Jang was the first in LPGA history to make a par-4 hole-in-one on Jan. 31 at the season-opening Pure Silk Bahamas Classic. In the third round, Jang made an ace on the windy, 218-yard par-4 eighth hole at Ocean Golf Club.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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