September 23-28, 2025Bethpage Black Course, Farmingdale, NY
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September 23 - The day of the ace

September 23, 2018 1:32 UTC

The Ryder Cup hole-in-one is a very rare beast, with only six players achieving the feat in the history of the competition.

Two of these aces came on Saturday, September 23 - Costantino Rocca's in 1995 and Paul Casey's at the K Club 11 years later.

The European pair of Rocca and Sam Torrance were already three holes up when the Italian arrived at Oak Hill Country Club's 167-yard sixth hole during their foursomes clash with Davis Love III and Jeff Maggert.

And things got even better when he fired a five-iron straight at the pin, with the ball landing around 12 feet from the cup before taking another hop and rolling in.


The scenes that followed were quite remarkable as the home fans joined in with the celebrations, applauding and cheering at the top of their voices as Rocca, with his arms aloft, was warmly embraced by a jubilant Torrance.

Rocca and Torrance went on to secure a confidence-boosting 6 and 5 victory, as Europe won three of the four matches on Saturday morning to level things up at 6-6 before going on to win the cup on Sunday.

Rocca was just the third man to get an ace in the bienniel showpiece at the time - and we didn't have to wait long to see the fourth as Howard Clark repeated the trick in the singles.

The fifth came in Ireland in 2006, again on September 23, as Paul Casey produced one of the most memorable finishes to a Ryder Cup match in the competition's long and storied history.

Playing alongside David Howell, Casey was five up with five to play against Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson in the Saturday afternoon foursomes when he pulled out a four-iron at the 213-yard 14th.


Casey watched in shock as the ball landed bang on line and trickled into the cup in what seemed like slow motion to earn the European duo a sensational walk-off 5 and 4 victory and put Ian Woosnam's side 10-6 up.

The assembled crowd let out a huge roar as the ball landed, before making even more noise as it found the hole. Upon realising it had gone in, Casey threw his arms - and club - into the air in celebration.

It was the Englishman's maiden hole-in-one in tournament play and he was delighted to get his first on one of golf's biggest stages.

Speaking at the time, Casey said: "For it to be in The Ryder Cup and to finish a match as well is remarkable. Unbelievable."

He joked: "Woosie (Woosnam) told me the guys had been hitting three-iron, so I pulled out a different club because I thought he was wrong!"

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