Stewart Cink aces 16th hole at the Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Stewart Cink aced the 166-yard 16th hole in the second round of the Masters on Friday.

He used an 8-iron.

Standing on the tee at 8 over par and well outside the projected cut line, Cink aimed well right and watched his ball land and trickle down the embankment, toward the front-left pin placement, and into the cup.

The crowd roared as Reagan Cink, his son and caddie, dropped the bag and went in for a hug with his dad. Harry Higgs also went in for an embrace, and Brian Harman offered a congratulatory knuckle-bump.

It was the 24th ace on 16 in tournament history, and the first since Tommy Fleetwood last year. Padraig Harrington and Kirk Triplett each made a hole-in-one there in consecutive groups in 2004.

A two-time PGA TOUR winner last season, Cink, 48, had just bogeyed the par-5 15th hole, where he tried to reach the green in two but found the water. He more than made up for that mistake with one magical stroke on 16.

It was his sixth ace since the TOUR began tracking such data in 1983, tied for eighth most on TOUR.

It was Reagan's birthday, and Cink joked that the hole-in-one, and the ball, would be his only present. "That should be enough, right?" Cink said. Turning more serious, he said, "I knew it was going in because the patrons in the front left all were watching it (from a perfect vantage point) and they knew it was in, and they all got up. When they got up, I knew it wasn't missing."