Many golfers will go an entire lifetime without ever producing a hole-in-one. Some will only see one or maybe two despite playing the sport for over 50 years. Others will tell you they have recorded an ace several times - only you were never actually there to witness any of them.
According to The National Hole-In-One Registry (yes, that's a real thing), between one and two percent of golfers achieve the magical feat every year. The average handicap of said hole-in-one hero is 14 and they are often scored by older players.
Even for professionals, many of the world's best are hardly prolific. Take Rory McIlroy, for example. He "only" has three aces in competitive rounds across a highly successful career that began in 2007.
Then there is Victor Perez. The French PGA Tour pro became just the second player ever to score an ace at Oakmont during a US Open late on in round two on Friday. Scott Simpson was the first in 1983. But, extraordinarily for Perez, that was his third hole-out in the past month.
He was stood on the 192-yard, par-3 sixth with a seven iron in hand when the awesome moment occurred at the 125th US Open. His high-cut tee shot landed about 15 feet short of the flag, bounced a couple of times and then disappeared into the hole via its left edge.
🚨 ACE ALERT 🚨Victor Perez 🇫🇷 with a great shot and an even better celebration! pic.twitter.com/cmkThegam2June 13, 2025
Perez and his caddie celebrated appropriately by jumping up and down and chest bumping into each other before the former went around offering out high fives to his playing partners.
Speaking to the DP World Tour afterwards, the 32-year-old - who has seven professional wins - revealed he believes he now has nine hole-in-ones throughout his career.
Reacting to his US Open ace while watching it back on a phone at Oakmont Country Club, Perez said: "Land just short, bounce and in, perfect speed, roll like a putt. And a chest pump for the road! Sweet."
Later explaining to the PGA Tour that he actually didn't quite hit the shot how he wanted, Perez said: "Obviously I was trying to hit something maybe 15, 20 feet past the hole and it maybe spun a little bit more and bounced in, so a little fortunate which I'll definitely take going into the weekend."
Then asked by the DP World Tour how many hole-in-ones he has made in his career so far, the University of New Mexico alumnus replied: "I'm pretty sure it's nine, but I'm not 100% sure, which is bad!"
He then uttered a sentence which took everyone by surprise: "I've had three in the last month, and I'm not even joking.
"I've had two at home in The Bahamas and this [US Open] makes it three. They didn't believe me at home because I was playing by myself! But know they'll know."
Perez's magic moment was not only extremely cool for all who witnessed it, but very important for the man himself. An eagle on the card pushed him up to even par for his round and one-over for the Championship, just four strokes back of leader, Sam Burns at the halfway mark.
