‘Bit of disbelief’: Toe-struck tee shot brings Daniel Hillier an ace and a $160,000 bonus

Daniel Hillier made one of the most unlikely aces of his career during Thursday’s opening round of the Spanish Open.

The 28-year-old New Zealander hit his tee shot on the par-3 17th at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. He was far from pleased with the strike.

“I toed it quite a bit,” Hillier admitted afterward.

Despite the poor contact, the ball held its line toward the front-left pin position.

“I was telling it to go the whole way, but it kind of hung in the air for a little bit longer than I thought. And then, yeah, heard some cheers,” he said.

They were hole-in-one cheers.

The ace gave Hillier a rare 1 on his scorecard and, thanks to a sponsor promotion, a new car for his garage. The prize was a BMW iX5 SUV valued at 140,338 euros, or nearly $160,000.

“I didn’t realize a car was on offer. I’ve locked it up pretty early, but absolutely stoked and very grateful. It’s going to be a long drive though — to New Zealand, I know that much,” Hillier said.

The ace helped Hillier open with a four-under 67. Early in his second round on Friday, he added another birdie to reach five under for the tournament, four shots behind clubhouse leader Grant Forrest of Scotland at that point.

Hillier said he did not see the ball drop. The bottom of the hole cannot be seen from the tee, but the crowd’s reaction told him everything.

“You can’t see the bottom of the hole from the tee, so yeah, saw everyone jump up at the back of the grandstand there. A little bit of disbelief for a while, but it’s nice to see it go in,” he said.

Especially after catching it off the toe.