John Parry enjoys moment he will 'never forget' as he hits hole-in-one at The Open Championship

The 38-year-old Harrogate GC member became the first player to produce an ace at this year’s competition – held at Royal Portrush – which is one of the four men’s Majors.

Parry, who has competed at The Open just once before, gave a very decent account of himself across the four days, finishing joint 16th after shooting seven under par.

But it was at the 13th hole on day three when he produced one of the most memorable moments of his long professional career as his 192-yard tee shot bounced three times before dropping into the hole.

"It was a great day and obviously an experience I'll never forget,” said Parry, who teed off with an eight iron on the par-three 13th.

"The atmosphere was amazing when I made the hole-in-one. I think that's about 10 hole-in-ones during my career - but that's definitely the best one.

“I did hit a really good shot for once, so it was quite nice

“It was a quite comfortable shot where I knew I had a big window to land the ball in.

"It was either going to pitch short and hit the down slope and feed down or pitch up. But I felt like it was going to be close.”

Renaissance man Parry’s career has been very much on an upward trajectory of late, with a hat-trick of triumphs on the Challenge Tour last season earning him a place back on the DP World Tour late last summer.

He then won the Mauritius Open in December to bag his second top-level title 14 years after the first, before successive weekend rounds of 67 at Portrush earned him a tie for 16th place alongside such English golfing dignitaries as Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood.

Reflecting on his overall performance, Parry added: “It's one of those where I played really well without holing too many putts.

"But I played really well, so I'm happy."

Parry’s only previous Open appearance came at St Andrews back in 2022, when he finished tied for 62nd.

This year’s championship was however the first time the Yorkshireman has played at Portrush on the north coast of Northern Ireland.

On the experience of competing at such a prestigious venue, he said: "Oh, it's amazing.

"It's interesting chatting to other golfers who have played a lot of the roster.

"I played with Justin Leonard today and he puts it up with the top three courses - so you know you're playing a top links course.”

The sudden nature of Parry’s recent success flies in the face of what he has produced in his 15 years bouncing between Europe’s top three tours.

His maiden victory came in Toulouse on the Challenge Tour back in 2009 and then won as a European Tour rookie at the Vivendi Cup in October 2010.

The then 23-year-old could surely not have predicted that he would have to wait 14 years for his next tournament triumph at that level, during which time he dropped off the continent’s top tour twice, once earning his place back by winning Qualifying School before slipping as low as playing on the EuroPro Tour three years ago – the last time he lost his playing privileges.

Parry’s resurgence coincided with him adopting a more relaxed approach to his game and saw him go on and take the Delhi Challenge in March 2024, the Blot Open de Bretagne in France three months later, then the Italian Challenge Open in September of the same year.

That Mauritius Open success followed just before Christmas and the Knaresborough ace doesn’t appear to have looked back since.

First contested in 1860, The Open is the oldest golf tournament in the world. This year’s winner of the famous Claret Jug was world number one Scottie Scheffler, who finished on 17 under par to win by four shots from fellow American Harris English.