American Patrick Reed has sparked wild scenes and been showered in drinks after sinking a hole-in-one during the first round of the LIV Golf event in Adelaide.
The former US Masters champion aced the famous watering hole on just his second hole of the day as the tournament got off to a raucous start at Grange Golf Club on Friday.
Chase Koepka hit a hole-in-one on the same par three in 2023, setting off a frenzy in the packed grandstands that became an iconic moment in the debut event.
Reed became just the second golfer to hit an ace at LIV Golf Adelaide less than 15 minutes into play on the opening day of the tournament as plastic cups rained down.
The 34-year-old sealed the feat with just the sixth tee shot of the day at the hole after starting with a bogey on the par-five 11th. LIV Golf uses a shotgun start with all players teeing off at the same time on various holes around the course.
Reed threw his hands in the air and soaked up the cheers and applause before racing down to the green to collect his ball. The moment was one of few highlights at the “party hole” on Friday with only four birdies to follow.
He famously did a “shoey” on stage while celebrating his 4Aces GC’s team victory the inaugural LIV Golf Adelaide two years ago but had to hold off on joining the festivities this time.
“Being the second hole of the day, I still had a lot of golf holes to go,” Reed said. “It’s funny because that’s exactly what Harold [Varner III] said to me. He’s like, ‘man, why couldn’t this be our second-to-last hole or last hole for that to happen?’”
🚨 @PReedGolf ACE ON THE WATERING HOLE!
— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) February 14, 2025
Watch LIVE now on the @foxsports App 📺#LIVGolfAdelaide @4AcesGC_ pic.twitter.com/EIHZXKtsMu
Reed finished the day one over, while Sam Horsfield sits at the top of the individual leaderboard after a six under 66 and the only bogey-free round of the day.
Torque GC have taken the team lead at eight under thanks to a pair of 67s by captain Joaquin Niemann and Carlos Ortiz.
Australia’s fan favourite Cam Smith is one over, with Ripper GC teammates Lucas Herbert (one under), Marc Leishman (one over) and Matt Jones (three over) starting with a mixed bag.
As many as 100,000 spectators are expected to attend the three-day tournament in Adelaide’s west and Smith said before the start of play that he believes the home support will be a bonus.
“We have had pressure on us in the past, we’ve dealt with it pretty good,” Smith said. “To be honest, all we have tried to do the last four or five weeks is really just prepare as good as we can and get in and get our work done and tick a lot of boxes and get here on Friday and just let it all go.
“We know we’re going to have the support of the home crowd. We love the golf course, I think this is the best I’ve ever seen it, hopefully it gets firmer and faster. We know we’ve done the work, so why not two in a row?”
