Dale Whitnell has incredibly hit two hole-in-ones at the DP World Tour-sanctioned South African Open.
The Englishman went into the second round on Friday having shot a level-par 72 across his first 18 holes, putting him at risk of missing the cut.
However, in one of the most astonishing rounds ever put together on the DP World Tour, the world number 545 made two aces in his first 12 holes.
Whitnell's first came at the 179-yard second hole before he holed his tee shot at the 149-yard 12th hole. He had never recorded a hole-in-one in a competitive round.
John Hudson was the last Englishman to pull off the feat, achieving it in the European Tour's Martini International at Royal Norwich in 1971.
As recently as last year, Frank Bensel Jr registered holes-in-one on successive holes at the US Senior Open.
Where does Whitnell stand in South African Open?
Despite his heroics on Friday, Whitnell is still only sitting in ninth position on the leaderboard, five shots adrift of leader Shaun Norris.
Whitnell entered the tournament in relative consistent form for a player of his world ranking position, making the cut in five of his last six events.
A seventh-placed finish at the Alfred Dunhill Championship at the back end of 2024 moved him 90 places up the World Golf Rankings, and he is now bidding to earn just his second top-10 finish since the middle of 2023.
