Francesco Molinari hit an incredible hole-in-one on his final hole on Friday evening to make the cut at the US Open by ONE stroke.
The 2018 Open champion was hovering just below the cut line at Pinehurst No.2 after another brutal day in the showpiece major.
Finishing on the front nine, the Italian bogeyed the eighth hole to leave him at seven-over-par and heading home.
As he stepped up to the 194-yard par-3 ninth, he needed a miracle to make the weekend.
And Molinari got just that.
He fired his seven iron straight at the pin and it landed just over the huge bunker guarding the green.
It trickled forward, catching an undulation before finding the bottom of the cup.
More incredibly, Molinari actually made a triple-bogey six at the ninth hole during Thursday’s opening round.
He said: “I hit it on a good line, it barely carried the bunker and then I couldn’t believe it really.
“I had just bogeyed the eighth, and I had made six on the ninth yesterday – going from six to a hole-in-one is incredible.
“It was just relief.
“I haven’t been making a lot of cuts the last few weeks, I’ve just been falling short, so it’s nice to have one go my way.”
Molinari, who won The Open in 2018 at Carnoustie, made the cut at Pinehurst by one stroke.
No player on record (since such records began in 2003) has made an ace to make the cut on the number in professional golf.
Molinari will now join 2017 and 2018 US Open champion Brooks Koepka for the third round and will get back underway at 1:55pm UK time.
While Molinari made the weekend in dramatic faschion, several other big names are out.
Former US Open champions Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson are heading home as are Justin Thomas, Viktor Hovland, Max Homa and Phil Mickelson.
At the other end of the leaderboard, it is Swedish sensation Ludvig Aberg at the top, holding a one-shot lead heading into Saturday.
Bryson DeChambeau. Thomas Detry and Patrick Cantlay are one back while Rory McIlroy and Tony Finau are right in the mix too.
News Summary:
- ‘I couldn’t believe it’ – former Open champion Francesco Molinari hits ace to make US Open cut by ONE as Tiger Woods misses out
- Check all news and articles from the latest Golf updates.