Marking a return to the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series schedule for the first time since 2012, the field of 48 Professionals are competing for a share of $50,000 over the course of two rounds at Portsea Golf Club on the Mornington Peninsula.

Beckmann doubled that with one shot thanks to ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia betting partner betr.

One-over through 15 holes after starting from the 10th tee, Beckmann hit a “perfect, flat, drawing 6-iron” into a two-club wind at the 164-metre par-3 seventh, landing it six feet short of the flag before rolling centre cup.

Not that he saw it.

“I couldn’t really see it from the tee,” Beckmann conceded. “I got my laser from out of my bag and checked it and I couldn’t see the ball but I thought it might be just behind the hole.

“I got halfway down the hill and I could see there was no ball there. Then it kind of sunk in.”

If that was a shock, more was to come.

“I had no idea there was even a prize when I hit the shot. I had no idea there was anything up for grabs,” he added.

“One of my playing partners said to me, ‘That’s gone in!’

“He came up and gave me a hug and I was like, ‘Really? Did it really go in?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, that’s 100 grand. You’ve just won a hundred grand.’

“Once I found out that it actually did go in, I got really shaky.”

The ace is the sixth in Beckmann’s career and his first in a professional event, surpassing his hole-in-one playing alongside his father as a 15-year-old at Heidelberg Golf Club in Melbourne as his most significant to date.

Where fellow Aussies such as Wade Ormsby (204 bottles of Glengoyne Highland Single Malt Scotch whisky at the 2021 Scottish Open) and Deyen Lawson ($250,000 BMW 850 M at the 2018 Alfred Dunhill Championship) earned eye-catching prizes for their aces in recent years, Beckmann has a more practical plan for how to invest his windfall.

Hinting that partner Kara might be in line for some new jewellery, Beckmann says the vast majority will be used to fund his pursuit of a career in professional golf.

Runner-up to Scott Arnold at the 2009 Australian Amateur Championship – where he beat Kiwi Ryan Fox in the semi-final – Beckmann’s progression into a pro career was halted by a cancer battle that hospitalised him for two years.

He is now in his fourth year of remission with a renewed sense of purpose… and the suddenly inflated bank balance to back it up.

“It’s definitely going to make the next few years a bit easier playing out here,” said Beckmann, who was forced to skip Asian Tour Qualifying School starting Wednesday due to a lack of funds.

“Playing out here, all you really think about is how am I going to fund my next event or my next three events. How am I going to fly to this event? How much is my hire car going to cost? You think about that stuff every day so this will make all of that a lot easier to deal with.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. And I don’t think it will for a while. Not until I see the number in my bank account.

“I don’t think I’ll really process it until that point.”

With the afternoon groups still on-course Beckmann’s round of one-under 70 puts him in a tie for eighth, three strokes back of Matt Jager (67).

Like Beckmann, Jager picked up three shots on the seventh and eighth holes, making birdie at seven followed by an eagle at the par-5 eighth.

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