With apologies to PGA Tour veteran Martin Laird, who made an ace at the No. 6 on PGA West’s Stadium Course on Thursday, the shot of the day at The American Express — heck, for all of golf — belongs to Laurent Hurtubise, an amateur competitor in the pro-am for the seventh time, who made a hole-in-one of his own at the Stadium Course alongside his pro partner, Troy Merritt.
According to the PGA Tour, Hurtubise was born with one arm and started playing golf at age 11. (His right arm ends just below the elbow.) He and Merritt combined to shoot 5-under 67 and sit T-74 after the first round.
The video of his ace in the tweet will make your day.
It shows Hurtubise at the 151-yard fourth hole setting up as a lefty, gripping an iron with his left hand and sending the ball in the direction of the green, where it lands and makes a bee line for the hole. It was coming in hot but hits the center of the flagstick and drops for an improbable 1 on the scorecard.
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The gallery roared with approval. Hurtubise lifted his left arm to the sky, flicked his hat off, and celebrated with high-5s. As he walked to the green, he took a bow and can be heard saying to a caddie, “What a feeling, huh?”
He grabbed the ball from the hole, held it aloft to the fans and pumped his fist.
Congrats, Laurent. We’ll all drink to you.
For more on his story, here’s a Desert Sun piece from 2018.
