It doesn’t shock when a professional golfer makes a hole-in-one.
But to ace a par 3 with your DP World Tour future at stake, not to mention your livelihood, makes my eyebrows hit the roof.
Pedro Figueiredo pulled an 8-iron from his bag with just over 160 yards to the flag on the 7th hole on the Lakes Course at Infinitum.
This was the 32-year-old’s 79th hole of the week at DP World Tour Q-school, a gruelling six-round process he knows all too well.
With family members intently watching on, Figueiredo fired a perfect shot that he wouldn’t have known dropped if his father and uncle weren’t positioned by the putting surface.
“That was cool. It was 155 metres with the wind just coming off the left and I hit a really, really good 8-iron that landed just a metre short of the pin and rolled in.
“It’s always a special feeling when you have a hole-in-one. It was my fourth one and my last one was like six years ago. You never expect one, so it’s a good feeling.
“There were a few people watching our group. My dad and my uncle and a couple of people following the other guys, so that’s how I realised the ball went in, because I couldn’t really see it because it was right at the flag and sometimes, you think it’s in but it’s not.
“The guys close to the green started cheering, so that’s when I knew it was in.”
Having made three birdies prior to this, the man from Portugal made 12 consecutive pars thereafter to card a 5-under-par 66.
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Pedro Figueiredo at DP World Tour Q-school 2023: ‘Whatever happens, happens’
The top 25 and ties earn their stripes on the DP World Tour in 2024. Figueiredo is currently in a tie for 24th with just 18 holes left.
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‘Figgy’ would be no stranger to the formerly-named European Tour, having earned more than €400,000 across 124 appearances.
He came tied for seventh at this event last year and finds himself in the same tricky spot again. Those who finish outside of the top 25 in round six will earn playing rights on the Challenge Tour.
There is much at stake, to say the least, but for someone once chosen to play in the Junior Ryder Cup and Palmer Cup in his younger years, Figueiredo appeared unfazed by the pressure in Tarragona.
“It’s a very long week,” he explained. “It’s one that you have to save a lot of energy, or at least try to. I’ve been here twice and I’ve made it through both times, and I think I just accept whatever happens.
“I try to be very accepting of if I don’t do well and if I have to play on the Challenge Tour or if I don’t qualify.
“I think that relaxes me and then I obviously try and do my best to feel OK with whatever the result is at the end of the week, because I think a lot of the time this week, people put a lot of pressure on themselves and that kind of plays against them.
“So I just try and be like, whatever happens, happens. I’m just going to try my best and if it’s enough at the end of the six rounds, then great.
“It means a lot. That’s where we want to play and as I said, I’ve made it through here twice, I’ve made it through, I’ve made it through the Challenge Tour once. I think I’ve played four years on the main tour, that’s absolutely where I want to be with the best players in Europe.
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“It’s a big motivation for me to play well tomorrow.”
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