Major champion Hinako Shibuno made the second ace of the day on Friday at the Dow Championship, holing out on the par-3 18th hole during the second round in Midland, Mich.
Grace Kim got the hole-in-one party started in the morning wave, acing the par-3 7th hole from 145 yards with her 7-iron, the first hole-in-one of her life.
Shibuno then followed the Aussie’s lead, making her second career ace on the closing hole of Midland Country Club, a shot that helped her and her teammate Minami Katsu to a 9-under 61 in the four-ball format, propelling them inside the cut line after they opened with a 1-over 71 on Thursday.
“I was just shaking,” said Shibuno. “I had one at BMW in Korea two years ago. (This ace is my) second one on the LPGA.”
We couldn't leave you hanging 😉 So here's Hinako Shibuno's ace from Round ✌️@wowowgolf | @dowchampionship pic.twitter.com/FxbPk7ivMn
— LPGA (@LPGA) June 29, 2024
Shibuno’s partner Katsu was grateful that her teammate managed to hole out on 18 as it shifted the momentum of their round after the pair got off to a quiet start on their first eight holes of the day. “I was really happy about it,” Katsu said. “Until that time, we had a really tough time, and we missed a birdie putt by a little, so it made a change a lot.”
In honor of Shibuno’s ace, CME Group will donate $20,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as part of their season-long CME Group Cares Challenge – Score 1 for St. Jude.
The program is a charitable giving campaign that sees CME Group donate $20,000 for every hole-in-one made on the LPGA Tour each season with a minimum guaranteed donation of $500,000 to St. Jude's, which is leading the way in how the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and life-threatening diseases.
The 2019 AIG Women’s Open champion’s hole-in-one raises the 2024 donation total to $220,000. This is the second consecutive week that a hole-in-one has been made on the LPGA Tour, as Pajaree Anannarukarn holed out on the par-3 13th hole at last week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club.
The Dow Championship is just the second tournament this season at which there have been multiple holes-in-one. Three aces were recorded in April at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro by Jeongeun Lee5 (No. 18, R1), Alexa Pano (No. 12, R2) and Auston Kim (No. 18, R2).