Raul Pereda makes first career ace from 236 yards in Round 1 of THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson

PGA TOUR rookie Raul Pereda made his first hole-in-one in TOUR competition on Thursday morning, acing the 236-yard par-3 seventh hole at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson.

Pereda launched a long iron that landed just a few paces onto the green and trundled to the back-left hole location. Pereda celebrated with a fist pump and high fives with his playing partners, Zecheng Dou and Chris Gotterup. The ace moved Pereda into red figures, 2-under through seven holes at TPC Craig Ranch.

"When it came off the face it was just very solid and landed about halfway or middle of the green and it was tracking," said Pereda, who hit 4-iron. "I just didn't think it had enough speed, so I picked up the tee, and when I turned around I still see the ball, and all of a sudden I heard some people screaming and yelling. JP my caddie was like, I thought it had a chance and all off sudden it disappeared."

It was the 11th ace of the PGA TOUR season and the first since Jordan Spieth made a hole-in-one during the first round of the Valero Texas Open. It is Pereda's sixth career ace. His first came at age 13.

"I think I'm going to have a good dinner with my team out here. Media center for sure has some beers out there already, so, guys, go enjoy some," Pereda said.

It was a much-welcomed boost for Pereda, who has struggled in his maiden season on the PGA TOUR. The Mexico native, who earned his TOUR card through PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry, has missed seven cuts in nine starts. His best finish is a tie for 42nd at the Puerto Rico Open. Pereda said he's struggled particularly with his spin. Ahead of the season, he was seeing concerningly low spin rates, which led him to change into a higher-spinning ball and adjust nearly every club in the bag. The change turned out to be short-lived. Pereda was unable to control the additional spin he produced and went back to a lower-spinning ball and bag setup ahead of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

"I's been an improvement this week," Pereda said. "There is a lot of shots where I didn't feel like I was going to lose control of the ball. Everything was just a little starting left, starting a little bit right. I was able to do whatever I wanted to the ball, fade it, draw it."

Those changes led to the ace. Maybe it will help flip his season's fortunes, too.