Golf: McDowell, Watney make aces at New Orleans PGA pairs event

Nick Watney plays his shot from the 12th tee during the first round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on April 22, 2021. PHOTO: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former US Open champion Graeme McDowell aced the 216-yard par-3 17th hole with a 4-iron on Friday (April 23), the second hole-in-one of the day after Nick Watney's ace at 14 in the US PGA Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Northern Ireland's McDowell hadn't realised his shot had rolled into the cup when partner Matt Wallace of England erupted in celebration, shoving McDowell backwards as he seized him by the shoulders and cheered.

"I would have been happy with anything dry there, but I'll take a 1," McDowell told an on-course television interviewer as he headed to the next hole at TPC Louisiana.

The ace at their eighth hole of the day moved McDowell and Wallace to 7-under for the tournament - five off the early second-round lead.

Hours earlier, Watney aced the 224-yard par-3 14th with a 6-iron.

It turned out to be the lone bright spot on the day for Watney and partner Charley Hoffman, whose two-over round put them at six-under for the tournament through 36 holes.

The day's aces were the fourth and fifth at the tournament since the duos format was introduced in 2017, following Billy Hurley and Chris Paisley in 2018 and Kevin Kisner in 2019.

Watney, 39, won his first PGA title at New Orleans in 2007, before it adopted the pairs format. The most recent of his five career PGA titles came at The Barclays in 2012.

McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion at Pebble Beach, won the most recent of his four US tour titles at Corales Puntacana in the Dominican Republic in 2019.

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