BELLEAIR, Fla. – Jiwon Jeon got to see it this time. In her first two aces of the season, she wasn’t able to watch the ball go into the hole. But the third time around, she was pretty sure she saw her ball drop from the tee on the par-3 third hole at Pelican Golf Club.
Maybe.
“So I was like, this one today I actually saw it going into the hole, but I wasn’t sure because it was pretty far, like 180 yards off the tee,” she said. “So I see some people raise their hands and I’m like, oh, is it actually going in or not?”
South Korea’s Jeon, 27, gave herself a five out of 10 on the celebration, noting that she did high-five everyone.
The ace helped vault Jeon to a share of first with Charley Hull at the 2024 The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican after a round of 6-under 64.
Jeon used a 5-hybrid for today’s ace at Pelican. Last month, she made an ace at the Buick LPGA Shanghai with a 5-iron. Her first hole-in-one of 2024 came in Portland with a well-struck 8-iron.
She becomes the first player since Danielle Kang in 2014 to make three aces in one season and the fourth overall.
Two years ago, Jeon made her first hole-in-one in a non-competition round.
With Thursday’s ace, CME Group will donate $20,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research. A total of $580,000 has gone to St. Jude this year, with $60,000 of it coming from Jeon’s fine play.
“Obviously I’m just inside top 100 right now, “ said Jeon, who sits 98th on the CME points list, “and then obviously I want to keep my card for next year, but I try not to think about it too much. I literally gave everything for last three days practice. I’m trying to figure out what I have to do out here and then really focus on like each shot.”
The top 100 players on the CME points list keep their cards.
