OAKMONT, Pa. — Frenchman Victor Perez carded a hole-in-one at the par-3 sixth hole on Friday in the second round of the 125th U.S. Open.
Perez’s ace was just the second in a U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. Scott Simpson accomplished the feat in 1983 during the first round at the par-3 16th hole.
Taking aim at the 192-yard hole on Friday, Perez used his 7-iron to fire a shot that landed approximately 15 feet short of the cup. The ball bounced three times on the green before curling into the hole.
Perez, 32, raised his arms in the air and chest-bumped his caddie James Erkenbeck.
“Obviously a hole-in-one takes a bit of luck,” Perez told reporters. “Obviously I was trying to hit something maybe 15, 20 feet past the hole, it maybe spun a little bit more and bounced in. So a little fortunate, which I’ll definitely take going into the weekend.”
The ace was the first on the PGA Tour for Perez, but in a video posted by the DP World Tour, he said he believes it was his ninth all-time.
“I’ve had three in the last month, and I’m not even joking,” Perez explained. “I’ve had two at home in the Bahamas and this makes it three. They didn’t believe me at home because I was playing by myself, so I think now we’ll know.”
Perez, ranked 99th in the world, shot even-par 70 for the second round and resides at 1 over for the championship, well inside the cut line as play wound down Friday. The three-time DP World Tour winner is attempting to make the cut at the U.S. Open for the first time in six tries.
–Field Level Media
