Sungjae Im delivered the round of his season at TPC Craig Ranch on Friday, holing a 222-yard five iron for a hole-in-one at the par-three seventh and capping the day with an eagle on the par-five 18th to share the CJ Cup Byron Nelson lead through 36 holes.
The South Korean's ace came in arguably the most difficult spot on the golf course. With the wind off the left and the pin tucked left, the seventh had been ranked among the toughest par threes in the field on Thursday. NBC's on-course commentator, watching Im set up with playing partner Jordan Spieth alongside, framed the shot as a high-risk play that demanded perfect contact.
"I think as aggressive as you want to get is halfway between the pin and Jordan's ball — maybe that's the right edge of the TV tower in the background," the commentator told viewers. "Or you could just go right at it."
Im went right at it. The ball flew on a controlled draw, landed left of the flag and tracked into the hole, drawing a roar from the gallery that carried back down the fairway.
"Going an ace to tie for the lead. Sungjae, what a day," the NBC call continued. "He goes for the five, just hammers it — and watch his reaction. Yes, it went down. How much mojo was with this group on what is one of the hardest holes on the golf course?"
Spieth, who played the rest of his round alongside Im and Chris Gotterup and closed with a bogey-free 62 of his own, was effusive about the shot in his post-round press conference.
"It's 222, and he just hit this perfect five iron that held the breeze and came down and went in like a putt breaking left to right," Spieth said. "From that distance, that club — there were all these other par threes that were way easier to make a hole-in-one on than that one."
The ace was the third of the season on the PGA Tour for Im, who has built his 2026 around remarkable iron play but has so far converted only one of those weeks into top-five contention. Friday looks like the second. Im backed up the seventh with a stretch of two-putt pars and short-iron birdies before reaching the 18th tee, where he flushed a long second into the par five and rolled in a downhill eagle putt to share the early clubhouse lead.
"He obviously closed out with an eagle on the last to make our chances of playing together hard for tomorrow," Spieth said. "But maybe Sunday."
Im will tee off on Saturday with a chance to win for the third time on the PGA Tour and, with TPC Craig Ranch playing soft and gettable after the recent renovation, the leaders will need to keep accelerating. Spieth sits one back at eight under after his 62, while Korn Ferry Tour graduate Taylor Moore matched the course record with a 62 of his own a day earlier and remains in the mix.
The fast pace through 36 holes reflects the new layout's scoring posture. Tour officials confirmed earlier this week that the redesign had been deliberately softened in places to encourage low rounds, and Friday's leaderboard suggests the field has accepted the invitation. Im's 222-yard ace will headline the Friday highlight reel, but it may take more of the same to win when the Texas wind picks up on the weekend.
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*Originally published on [Golf News](https://golfnews.global/article/sungjae-im-ace-five-iron-par-3-7th-eagle-18-cj-cup-byron-nelson-2026-lead). Visit for full coverage.*
