Mimi Rhodes lived up to the billing on day one at the Tenerife Women’s Open as the Order of Merit number one struck a magnificent ace at Abama Golf Resort.
Just a few minutes into the broadcast, Rhodes recorded her first ever professional hole-in-one acing the par-3 7th from 141 yards.
“I was honestly a bit frustrated out there because the putts weren’t dropping,” the Englishwoman said, who was playing alongside compatriot Cara Gainer and Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini. “Then on the 7th, I hit a 9-iron straight at the pin, I didn’t get to see it, but my brother and his fiancee [who were watching] were really loud about it so then I knew it went in! It was a special moment. Especially to get it on camera.
“As a professional, that’s my first hole-in-one. But overall I’ve only had two so I’m pretty happy. I didn’t mean it when I said drinks on me! Okay. Maybe for myself, but not for everyone else. Maybe when I’m home I’ll get a round in.”
The hole-in-one in Tenerife was the sixth of the 2025 season on the Ladies European Tour (LET). Kim Metraux, Sarah Schober, Momoka Kobori, Danielle Du Toit and April Angurasaranee are the other five members to card aces so far.
Rhodes, a 23-year-old rookie on Tour, has been the star of the season so far picking up three victories at the Ford Women’s NSW Open, Joburg Ladies Open and Dutch Ladies Open.
The Abama ace helped get her round going as she opened with a card of 70 (-2) to sit three shots back. Despite sitting inside the top-10 on day one, the Order of Merit leader insists there is still plenty to work on for the rest of the week.
“Honestly, the round wasn’t too good,” Rhodes said. “I hit tee-to-green pretty good. But my putting needs some work. The greens are just tricky out there. They’re difficult to read, the pace is difficult to get. I’ll do some work later on my putting and will hopefully get a low one in tomorrow. This morning our group were also quite slow. But if you get the putts rolling you can get a low round out here. I just need to keep my focus.”
Rhodes gets her second round underway at the Tenerife Women’s Open on Friday afternoon at 15:05pm.
Watch live and follow all the action throughout the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #OpenTenerife.
