BELLEAIR, Fla. — Epson Tour graduate Jiwon Jeon recorded her third ace of the 2024 LPGA Tour season on Thursday at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, a hole-in-one that propelled the Republic of Korea native to a first-round, 6-under 64 and gave her a share of the early lead after the morning wave finished.

Jeon holed her tee shot on the 177-yard, par-3 3rd hole at Pelican Golf Club with her 5-hybrid to record her first hole-in-one on Tour since she dunked her tee shot on the par-3 7th hole at Qizhong Garden Golf Club in the People’s Republic of China during the third round of last month’s Buick LPGA Shanghai. She also aced the par-3 2nd hole during the second round of the Portland Classic in August to card her first career hole-in-one since joining the LPGA Tour in 2020.

It’s just the fourth ace that Jeon has made in her lifetime, and it was the first of her three holes-in-one this season that she has actually gotten to see go in, making an incredible moment even more special for the 27-year-old.

“Wind's coming off the left, little into,” Jeon explained. “I had exactly the same yardage the last hole for the second shot, so I was talking to Bruce (Lowe), my caddie, like, ‘Just hit the same shot?’ He was like, ‘Yeah.’ Then I hit it, and then I saw the one bounce and went in the hole. It was very cool to see the hole-in-one actually going into the hole.”

Jeon’s ace will see another $20,000 donation made by CME Group to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as part of their season-long CME Group Cares Challenge – Score 1 for St. Jude. The Challenge is a charitable giving campaign that turns aces into donations for childhood cancer treatment and research, with a minimum guaranteed amount of $500,000 going to St. Jude’s at the end of the year.

Today’s hole-in-one raises the 2024 donation total to a whopping $580,000, with Jeon contributing $60,000 of that total amount on her own since August, an opportunity she expressed immense gratitude for when asked what it meant to send another $20,000 to St. Jude after making another ace in the first round of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.

“It definitely meant a lot for me that I was able to contribute some of the fundraising to St. Jude foundation,” said Jeon. “I'm really glad that I got to donate 60,000 this year. At least I can help with my hole-in-one. I want to keep doing it, but it's hard. I'm really glad that I was able to help the children out there that need help.”

While much was made of her hole-in-one, Jeon is currently co-leading The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican alongside Englishwoman Charley Hull, as the pair both carded 64s in the first round at Pelican Golf Club. Along with her ace, the two-time Epson Tour winner made two bogeys and six birdies on day one in Belleair, Fla., and the 64 is her new career-low round on the LPGA Tour, besting her previous benchmark of 66 by two shots.

After making just 10 cuts in 22 total starts this year, Jeon is currently ranked 98th in the Race to the CME Globe and is fighting as hard as she can to stay in the top 100 in the rankings so she can maintain full LPGA Tour status for next season. A solid performance this week would help Jeon do just that, but she is doing her best not to think about the end result. Instead, Jeon is working hard to stay locked in on her process, knowing that if she just puts her best foot forward both mentally and physically, all of her efforts should ultimately pay off come the end of Sunday’s final round.

“I'm just inside the top 100 right now, and then obviously, I want to keep my card for next year, but I try not to think about it too much,” said Jeon. “I literally gave everything for the last three days (of) practice. I’m trying to figure out what I have to do out here and then really focus on each shot. I think that work really paid off today. I want to continue to do the same thing for the rest of the rounds, rest of the tournament.”

Third Hole-In-One of Season Propels Jiwon Jeon to 64 in First Round of The ANNIKA

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