Akshay Bhatia Got a Rare 'Hole-In-One' on a Par-5 Thanks to Big Old Drain

Akshay Bhatia lost his ball right in the middle of the fairway.

PGA golfer Akshay Bhatia hits the ball from the first tee, during round one of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at the Detroit Golf Club in Detroit on Thursday, June 27, 2024. | Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK

Akshay Bhatia woke up on Friday morning leading the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit and has played well on the front nine to preserve that advantage. He stepped onto the 17th tee box, his eighth hole of the day, at 10-under and striped a perfect drive down the middle of the fairway on the par-five. Then golf happened and his ball disappeared, swallowed up by a huge drain placed in an unfortunate spot.

Normal sport pic.twitter.com/QtpqfWlUgm

— Kyle Koster (@KyleKoster) June 28, 2024

Ahh, the quirks of Detroit Golf Club.

Bhatia's blast traveled 314 yards to an area amateur golfers rarely explore off the tee and found one of the five drainage holes cut wide enough to allow a golf ball to drop through. Some would argue this is a flawed design but drying a course out is very important after rain and Bhatia was given a free drop anyway so it's a victimless crime.

Still, not something you see very often.

Bhatia ended up getting a par on the hole but then birdied No. 18 so he's already gotten over the loss of one of his balls to a freak accident.