Watch: Pro Golfer Attempts Hole in One with 500 Balls

On the DP World Tour (formerly known as the European Tour), the odds of making a hole in one are one in 2,500. Every so often, the tour’s YouTube channel challenges a professional golfer to defy those chances. 

Robert MacIntyre of Scotland was the latest participant in one of the golf world’s most tortuous online challenges: “Chase The Ace.” 

The 26-year-old lefty was given 500 balls to make an ace on the 8th hole of Pinheiros Altos Golf Club in Algarve, Portugal. The hole measured 142 yards. 

MacIntyre starts the challenge off on a slow note, struggling to stop the ball within 10 feet of the hole. But then the two-time DP World Tour winner heats up. As he starts sticking it closer and closer, a producer announces repeatedly that MacIntyre has come within a foot of the coveted ace. 

“Do you ever get the feeling when something’s not going to happen?” MacIntyre asked the production team. 

What unfolds next is magical. 

On only his 103rd attempt, MacIntyre hits a perfect shot just a few yards past the pin, and it zips backwards into the hole. The celebration ensues. MacIntyre takes off down the tee box, yelping and jumping in glory. 

The “Chase the Ace” hole-in-one challenge has been completed only once before. Andy Sullivan took 230 tries in 2019. Edoardo Molinari, Brandon Stone and Thomas Pieters all failed to make an ace in their attempts at the agonizing challenge.