Italy’s Francesco Molinari became the ninth golfer to record a hole-in-one on the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale Saturday during the third round of the Phoenix Open.
The last golfer to record a hole-in-one on the par-3 hole was Jarrod Lyle in 2011. Mike Sposa in 2002, Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods in 1997, Jay Delsing in 1991, Brad Bryant and David Edwards in 1990 and Hal Sutton in 1988 are the others to have put their ball in the cup on their first shot at the 16th hole.
After his round, Molinari said the shot was “just something really incredible.”
“I think it’s just my third hole-in-one in my life, so to get one there, it is special,” he said. “And the reaction was just something else, something you don’t see in golf every day.”
One of the most famous hole-in-ones at the 16th hole of the Phoenix Open was Woods’s in 1997. It’s a shot Molinari said he’s seen plenty of times.
“I don’t think I was watching on TV, you know, when he made it live. But I have seen it a few times,” he said. “Obviously the hole looked slightly different without the stands around it, but the reaction today was pretty similar.”
After the shot Molinari threw the ball into the stands. Molinari was asked about deciding to not keep the ball.
“I got it back, actually. They threw it back onto the green,” he said. “A volunteer just raked it out of the bunker and gave it to me at the end of the round. It was nice to get it back.”
Molinari said he has not yet decided if he is still going to keep it, or give it to someone.
“I wasn’t expecting to see it coming back from the stands,” he said.
In the history of the Phoenix Open there have been a total of 22 holes-in-one, including Molinari’s shot on Saturday. Molinari followed up that shot with a birdie on hole 17. The hole-in-one put Molinari at 5-under for the tournament and into the top-15.
Stay tuned with The State Press for updates from the third round of the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open.
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