McIlroy cards first PGA hole-in-one at Travelers

Players as accomplished as Rory McIlroy rarely have notable firsts late into their careers but the Northern Irishman crossed another milestone on Thursday by carding his first hole-in-one on the PGA Tour at the Travelers Championship.

McIlroy's tee shot at the par-three 214-yard eighth landed on the green and rolled directly into the hole. The 34-year-old threw both arms in the air and high-fived his caddie and playing partners Tom Kim and Viktor Hovland.

According to the PGA Tour, the four-time major winner had previously played 3,253 par-three holes on the circuit. It was McIlroy's second ace in competition having made one in Abu Dhabi on the DP World Tour in 2015.

"As hole-in-ones go, I've had them in the past where it has been an okay shot and you get a little lucky (but) that was the best shot of the day that I hit, and it's obviously a bonus for it to go into the hole," McIlroy said.

"It was really cool. I played pretty averagely up until that point but I birdied the next couple of holes after that and it sort of got me into the tournament a bit."

McIlroy was playing his first round since his latest bid to end a nine-year major drought fell short at last week's U.S. Open, where he finished one shot back of Wyndham Clark.

McIlroy, who finished with a two-under-par 68 for the round, eight shots behind leader Denny McCarthy, did not keep the ball as a memento.

"I threw it away to someone," he said. "I'm not sentimental, I don't care. I'd rather have trophies than golf balls."