Gina Kim makes first LPGA hole-in-one of 2023 at Drive On Championship

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — There was an albatross before there was an ace on the LPGA in 2023.

During Friday’s second round, Yuka Saso posted a 2 on the par-5 second hole, the first albatross in three years on tour.

On Sunday, Gina Kim recorded the first hole-in-one of the season. It happened on the par-3 eighth hole when she holed out to spark her final-round 66.

“It’s a little still chilly in the morning,” she said. “Wind was kind of going left to right, and I said, ‘Hey, you know, you thinking that 8-iron would be good?’ Because we were trying to play like a 146 shot and my caddie, Jorge said ‘I don’t want you to be muscling this. I think that 7-iron, just a nice grip-down easy 7-iron should be good.’

“And so I aimed left of it and let the wind take the ball, and it looked like it was going great, and suddenly we heard this loud bang and turns out it didn’t even just hop into the hole it just dunked straight into the hole. No damage to the hole. Just sank right to the bottom of the cup.”

🚨 ACE ALERT 🚨@gina_kim0504 aced the 137-yard, 8th hole using her 7 iron!

This is the first hole-in-one of the 2023 season! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/vV4robFgdM

— LPGA (@LPGA) March 26, 2023

As (bad) luck would have it, there was no video captured of the shot.

“At first I was scared because I was like, oh, crap. It probably hit the pin and went down the hill or something like that,” Kim said. “Then I heard my mom screaming and everyone screaming and then that’s when I realized, ‘Holy cow.’”