“Perfect” is how Lee-Anne Pace described her tee shot on the 15th hole in the first round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer, and considering her ball found the bottom of the cup on the par 3 for a hole-in-one, perfect is a pretty fair assessment.

The 44-year-old South African is teeing it up for the first time on the LPGA Tour this season in Galloway, N.J., and went bogey-birdie on holes 10 and 11 to start her first round at the Bay Course at Seaview, A Dolce Hotel. She parred the next three and then dunked her tee shot on the par-3 15th hole from 188 yards with her 5-hybrid to record her first-ever hole-in-one on the LPGA Tour and the 10th ace of her life.

“I hit literally actually a perfect shot,” Pace said. “I was staring at it, staring at it, took the break, everything. I was like, ‘Get in.’ I thought it stopped, and I turned away. My sister was like, ‘It's in.’ So, it was really nice. On a difficult hole as well. That kind of just got me going.”

Riding that thrill to the next hole, Pace birdied 16 to get to 3-under for the round and ultimately turned in 31 after parring 17 and 18. She birdied again on the first hole, but Pace gave that shot back with a bogey on two to drop to 3-under. The 2014 Blue Bay LPGA winner then made back-to-back birdies on the par-5 3rd and par-4 4th holes to climb to 5-under for the day.

She then parred five and six, bogeyed seven and closed out her first round with a pair of pars to post a 4-under 67, her lowest first-round score on the LPGA Tour since Pace fired a 66 on Thursday at the 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Lower Course. And even though it was an overall solid day-one effort that put the South African in the mix early in the Garden State, Pace credits her ace for much of her Friday success, a shot she will joyfully remember for the rest of her life.

“That's probably going to be the best one, I think,” said Pace when asked where her Friday hole-in-one ranks. “Five-hybrid, a little windy off the left, so I kind of (had) to shape it in there. I think it was the best.”

Pace’s ace is the fifth hole-in-one to be made on the LPGA Tour this season and is the first since Elizabeth Szokol holed out on the 14th hole at Liberty National Golf Club during the third round of last month’s Mizuho Americas Open.

In honor of her hole-in-one, CME Group will make a $20,000 donation on Pace’s behalf to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to support childhood cancer treatment and research as part of their CME Group Cares Challenge – Score 1 for St. Jude campaign.

A total of $100,000 has been raised so far in 2025, and no matter how many holes-in-one are ultimately recorded over the rest of the season, CME Group will make a minimum guaranteed donation of $500,000 to St. Jude at the end of the year.

Lee-Anne Pace Makes Ace in First Round of ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer

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