Following a delay to the start of the second round of the PGA Championship after a fatal traffic accident outside Valhalla, Swede Sebastian Soderberg was in the first group to go out, with a revised tee time of 7.35am ET (12.35pm BST).
He had some work to do to ensure he finished above the cut line, too, after a first round of 73 left him two-over, 11 behind overnight leader Xander Schauffele.
His task looked even more arduous after his opening hole, which he bogeyed to leave him three over, before steadying the ship with a par followed by his first birdie of the day on the par-3 third. Further pars followed until he reached another par-3, the eighth, where he achieved the first ace of the 2024 tournament.
Soderberg’s tee shot on the 173-yard hole landed on the green before taking a couple of bounces and disappearing into the hole. That brought him back to even-par and in with an excellent chance of reaching the weekend’s action.
🚨 First Ace of the week at Valhalla! Sebastian Soderberg drains it at No.8 🚨 pic.twitter.com/ByknNl8KYvMay 17, 2024
Soderberg is appearing at the tournament thanks to his world ranking of 92nd, eight places above the threshold typically needed to guarantee a place at the Major via that route.
His involvement was far from certain until a runner-up finish at April’s ISPS Handa Championship on the DP World Tour took him into the world’s top 100 for the first time. He followed that up with a finish of T2 at the Volvo China Open last week to consolidate his place in the top 100.
The appearance is the 2019 Omega European Masters champion’s first at the PGA Championship and just his second in a Major after he finished T53 at the 2022 US Open.
While Soderberg’s hole-in-one is the first at this year’s event, there was some high-quality golf in the opening round, including a hole-out eagle from World No.1 Scottie Scheffler on his way to a four-under 67.
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