Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Britain’s Justin Rose, the 2013 US Open champion, fired the first hole-in-one in Olympic history on Thursday with an ace at the par-three fourth hole on the new Rio Games course.

In the opening round of the first Olympic golf tournament in 112 years, Rose blasted his tee shot into the cup from 188 yards.

The 36-year-old Englishman, who is ranked 12th in the world and among this week’s gold-medal favourites, won the most recent of his 19 career titles at last October’s Hong Kong Open.

Rose sandwiched the ace between birdies at the third and fifth holes but a bogey at the par-three sixth left him on three under, level fifth as he made the turn on a windy day over the links-style layout.