Rory McIlroy Reveals What He Did With Ball From First PGA Tour Ace

For most golfers, it’s the ultimate dream: you step up to a par-3 and hit a pure shot; it lands on the green, close to the hole, then keeps rolling closer and closer until it trickles in for that ever-elusive ace. Drinks are on you back at the bar, but you don’t care: you’ve finally got a hole in one.

Most people would set that ball aside and never play it again, and usually immortalize it behind some display casing or trophy. But Rory McIlroy is not most people.

The four-time major champion pulled off his first career ace on the PGA Tour during Thursday’s first round of the Travelers Championship, crossing off a milestone on his loaded career bucket list. But what did he do when he finally retrieved that ball from the cup? He gave it away.

“I threw it away to someone,” McIlroy told reporters afterward. “I’m not sentimental, I don’t care. I’d rather have trophies than golf balls.”

McIlroy has plenty of trophies (and presumably lots of golf balls, too), but it’s still wild to think of anybody—even one of the world’s best golfers—not feeling at least some attachment to the ball. Players as accomplished as the 34-year-old McIlroy rarely have notable “firsts” this late into their careers, so while he won’t have the ball to look upon in the years to come, it’s safe to assume he’ll always remember that first ace.