For most of us mere mortals, opening our 2025 golf campaign with a round at The Olympic Club—one of the West Coast’s most storied U.S. Open theaters—would be enough. Hell, just the sight of a golfer playing under blue skies in short sleeves in January is enough to make half the world seethe with jealously. But a golfer by the name Austin Ryan didn’t stop there. No sir, he did not. During his first round of 2025 at the bucket-list Bay Area course, Ryan took dead aim, pulled the string and rang in the New Year with an ace. Queue “Auld Lang Syne.”

⛳️☝️🏌🏼‍♂️First round of 2025, first hole-in-one!

“Get in baby! LET’S GO!!” 🫨

(Via: _austin__ryan_/IG) pic.twitter.com/J7XV153O0v

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) January 6, 2025

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Now some of you architecture sleuths have probably figured out this isn’t Olympic Club’s iconic Lake Course, which has hosted five men’s U.S. Opens (and one women’s) over the course of its 101-year existence. Ryan tagged The Olympic Club on Instagram, but his hole-in-one appears to have gone down on the 4th hole of the Cliffs Course, the venue’s executive 9-hole par-3 course. Though some believe the Jay Morrish/Tom Weiskopf design to be Olympic Club’s finest, it is still a par-3 course and, well, according to the spoil sports and Debby Downers, aces don’t count on par-3 courses.

No matter where you land on that little debate, however, we can all agree this is a hell of a way to start the golf year. It could be a premature peak or a sign of things to come, but when something good happens to you in this sport, you don’t ask who, what, where or why. You just say thank you and, in this very specific case, Happy New Year.

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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com