South Africa’s talented Brandon Stone has grabbed the first ace of 2014 after holing out early in his round on the second day of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

Stone holed out at the par three, 13th hole he was playing as his third with the 20-year old Springbok golfer holing out from 212 yards using a 5-iron.

Ultra-talented Brandon Stone competing in last year’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at Kingsbarns.(Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)

Unfortunately, the current 595th World Ranked Stone misses out on a brand new BMW that is on offer for a hole-in-one at the par three, 17th.

After a prolific winning amateur career Stone made his professional debut in accepting an invitation to contest last year’s BMW International Open in Munich where he finished a credible 10th behind compatriot Ernie Els.

Stone is the son of former Sunshine Tour professional Kevin Stone and according to golf writing colleague Grant Winter it is here that the father-son relationship has worked well.

Kevin’s not the sort of man to insist that anyone, let alone his own son, play golf if they don’t want to. But right from his he days as a tiny tot Brandon was happily swinging a golf club (with pretty good technique, let it be said) just because he wanted to.

Kevin saw his potential but nurtured rather than pushed his son, who looks like he could go a long way in golf. He won a bunch of amateur tournaments, was a sensation during the year he spent at the University of Texas (quickly rising to the No 2 spot in the US college rankings), and now he’s made a rather special pro debut.

Unfortunately, Stone ended up missing the halfway and with no one speaking to him.

England’s Lee Slattery, who played in the same group as Stone, said:  “Brandon’s shot was never going to miss.  It took one bounce and disappeared.

“He said it was his fifth hole-in-one and of course his first as a pro.  He’s a really nice guy and I was delighted for him.”