Kota Kagasaki has qualified for the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship after recording a hole-in-one during pre-qualifying.
Kota Kagasaki has qualified for the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship after recording a hole-in-one during pre-qualifying.
19-year-old Kagasaki, who lives on the Gold Coast, teed it up yesterday at Middle Ridge Golf Club in the hope of gaining one of the final 13 positions available into the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship.
Teeing off the 10th hole, Kagasaki was even par after 15 holes and was hunting birdies on his way back into the clubhouse.
Taking his 9-iron off the tee on the 134m par-3 7th, Kagasaki hit the perfect shot and saw his ball disappear into the hole for an ace.
The timing couldn’t be better with Kagasaki finishing his round on 2-under 69 and earning his place in the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship which tees off on Thursday at City Golf Club in Toowoomba.
"It was good; it’s the first one in nine years, so it was pretty surprising," said Kagasaki who turned Professional in 2013.
"I was coming square with three holes to go, I knew I had to make a few birdies, it just came out of nowhere."
Five players finished on even par and found themselves in a playoff for the final two positions in the field, and if not for his hole-in-one, Kagasaki might have joined them.
Having secured three aces by the age of eight, this was Kagasaki’s first ace as a Professional and his fourth in total.
"I started playing golf on my eighth birthday, my first hole-in-one was three months after I started playing, I had two hole in ones after that but I haven’t had one since," added Kagasaki, who competed in an exhibition match against Tiger Woods when he was 13-years-old.
Kagasaki joins a strong field set to compete for the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship which includes Peter Lonard, Brad Kennedy, Ashley Hall, Peter O’Malley and Terry Price.
"I was struggling at the start of this year, I had really bad putting but everything is starting to come back," added Kagasaki.
"I am pretty confident that I can finish fairly high up this week."
The Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship is being contested at City Golf Club in Toowoomba from 19-22 February.
A prize purse of AU$120,000 is being played for, with the winner also receiving Official World Golf Ranking Points and becomes fully exempt on to the PGA Tour of Australasia for the remainder of this season plus a further two years.
Spectators are welcome and entry is free.