Daniel Hillier Toes a Hole-in-One and Wins a $157,000 BMW He Did Not Know Was on Offer

Daniel Hillier hit the worst good shot of his season on Thursday. The New Zealander toed an 8-iron at the 187-yard par-3 17th in the first round of the Spanish Open, disliked it on contact, and then heard the grandstand erupt as the ball pitched pin high, hopped left and rolled in for a hole-in-one, the DP World Tour reports. The ace won him a BMW iX5 valued at 140,338 euros, a prize he did not know existed until he had claimed it.

What exactly happened at the 17th?

The strike was a mishit by the player’s own account. Hillier said he toed the ball quite a bit, was not happy with it, and spent the flight urging it forward as it hung in the air longer than expected, the DP World Tour reports. From the tee he could not see the bottom of the hole, so the cheers and the sight of spectators jumping up behind the green told him what had happened.

It was his first hole-in-one on the DP World Tour and, he believes, the fifth of his professional career, and his favourite. The ace turned a solid round into a 4-under 67 at Real Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, leaving him tied for fourth, one shot behind the three co-leaders. On the same afternoon Eugenio Chacarra shot 66 on a fractured toe to share that lead, so Madrid’s first day produced a leader playing on a broken bone and a car winner who mishit the shot that paid for it.

Why was a car sitting on this hole in particular?

Because the sponsor put it there for exactly this moment, with a catch. The BMW iX5, valued at 140,338 euros (about $157,000), went only to the first professional to ace the 17th this week, AP reports. Hillier locked it up on Thursday, which means three more rounds of players will walk past a prize that is already spoken for.

His reaction was the honest one: he had not realised a car was on offer. His other problem is geography. The car is in Madrid and Hillier is from New Zealand, which prompted his joke that it is going to be a long drive home. A toed iron is the close cousin of the shank in the mishit family, the difference being that this one held its line, and no mishit in golf this year will be rewarded better.

How does a mishit go in when pure strikes do not?

By landing in the one place where direction matters more than contact. A toe strike usually costs distance and twists the face, which is why Hillier was shouting at the ball to get there. This one pitched pin high, which means the distance survived, and the hop left fed it toward the hole rather than away from it.

That is the arithmetic of aces at every level: the shot needs to be online and the right length, and everything else, strike, spin, even the player’s opinion of it, is decoration. Players who work on how to hit a driver farther chase the perfect strike for years; Hillier’s most profitable swing of 2026 was one he apologised to in mid-air. It is also a reminder of how far 187 yards with an 8-iron sits from the distances in the longest drive ever recorded: this was a scoring shot, not a power one, and it scored completely.

What does the week mean beyond the car?

A place in next year’s plans. Hillier arrived in Madrid 13th in the Race to Dubai standings and is targeting dual membership on the PGA Tour next year, the DP World Tour reports. With two regular-season events left before the play-offs, a weekend run in Spain would firm up that position far more durably than a car does.

The year was already running his way. In March he won his national open days after getting married, and October has now added a first DP World Tour ace. Thursday’s other Madrid stories point the same way: this is a tournament producing personal storylines faster than leaderboard ones, from Chacarra’s toe to defending champion Marco Penge topping a drive 158 yards on the seventh.

What happens next for Hillier?

Three more rounds, starting Friday, with the car already in the garage and the pressure moved entirely onto the standings. A 67 with an ace in it can flatter a round, and Hillier’s task is to back it up without the help of a mishit, on a course where the co-leaders include a home favourite the Madrid crowd has adopted for the week.

Whatever follows, the clip is permanent: a player wincing at his own strike, then grinning at the cheers. Golf hands out cars for perfection often enough. It rarely hands one out for a shot the player himself scored as a bad one.