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Déjà vu: Carlos Ortiz holes second ace of weekend on No. 16 at WM Phoenix Open

It took seven years for someone to follow up Francesco Molinari’s ace on No. 16 at TPC Scottsdale – with Sam Ryder doing so on Saturday – but it only took 20 hours this time before someone said, “hold my beer.”

That someone was Carlos Ortiz and once again, 20,000 of golf’s rowdiest spectators let go of their beers from No. 16’s grandstand on Sunday when the 30-year-old Mexican holed the second ace of the WM Phoenix Open’s weekend with a 9-iron from 178 yards — 54 yards more than Ryder’s because of Sunday’s pin location.

“I honestly thought it was a little bit short,” Ortiz said after his round. “That’s why I started walking. I was pretty surprised that got in.

“I don’t even know what to say. It was unbelievable. I didn’t know how to react. A lot of people cheering for you and then you start trying to watch out for your head because I got actually nailed pretty hard on the back with a beer can on the back, and then after that, I was just trying to just avoid all the cans I could.”

Ortiz, however, retaliated the fashion, chucking his coveted ball into the grandstand, rather than keeping it as a souvenir as Ryder did.

“They were throwing things at me, so I threw something back to them,” he said.

Ortiz didn’t stop there, though. On the very next hole, he became the first player this year on Tour to have back-to-back eagles and the beer parade may have helped him achieve that feat.

“15 minutes after my last shot, I had enough time to calm down because they had to clear the green from all the beer cans,” he said.

Starting his day on the back nine, Ortiz rode his consecutive double circles to a final-round 67, but it wouldn’t be enough as he finished outside the top-20 at 7 under.


Full-field scores from WM Phoenix Open


But the world No. 69 still helped end a 25-year drought. It was the first time since 1997 that two aces were recorded in the same week on No. 16 at TPC Scottsdale. In ’97, Steve Stricker claimed the second hole-in-one of the tournament just one day after Tiger Woods’ iconic moment.

You know what they say, history repeats itself, and though it took 25 years for history to double up on the 16th, Ryder, Ortiz and the 40,000 people crammed in the coliseum’s grandstand gave the golf world two highlights to remember.