IRELAND'S next great golf hope Paul Dunne has made a remarkable professional debut after carding a hole-in-one in his opening round at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Thursday.
Starting on the back nine, Dunne embarked on his first outing in the paid ranks and had already putted two birdies, two bogeys and one par before wowing the crowd by sinking his tee shot on the 15th hole.
It culminated in the 22-year-old from Greystones, Wicklow, enjoying a share of the lead along with fellow professional debutant Jimmy Mullen and Kristoffer Broberg.
“I kind of needed it,” said Dunne on the hole-in-one. “I got off to a bit of a ropey start. I was hitting a lot of poor full shots. My putter was kind of saving me and it was nice to get a hole-in-one. It was exactly as I pictured it.”
Dunne made a name for himself as an amateur by topping the leaderboard ahead of the final round at The Open earlier this year. He then helped the Great Britain and Ireland team win the Walker Cup before turning professional last month.
Remember your first day at work? In his 1st round as pro Paul Dunne made 8 birdies and a hole in one! #DunhillLinks pic.twitter.com/9SzmLegVno
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 1, 2015
