Scot Jamie McLeary pulled off a very rare first starting his Italian Open round with an ace to win a £50,000 Mercedes Nuova Classic C Cabrio coupe.

McLeary, 35 had nine holes of his second round to complete when he returned to the course at 8am in the rain-affected event laid out alongside the Monza F1 circuit.

And he could have wished for a better start for his first hole-in-one on the Tour.

He said:  “I had 201-yards to the pin and I wasn’t sure if my 5-iron would get there given it was a bit cool and I thought about using a 4-iron but went with the 5-iron with the ball starting right before drawing towards the flag and it pitched about 7-feet short before everybody started cheering.

Scotland’s Jamie McLeary celebrates winning a brand new Mercedes Coupe for an ace at his very first hole early on day three of the Italian Open. (Photo – European Tour)

“I didn’t want to think it was in the hole till I got up there to see that it had gone into the hole.

“It was about 10 past eight by this time and I was just pleased that there were a few people around the green.”

But it wasn’t till McLeary was on the green that he’d won the car that in fact was parked back on the tee.

He said:  “You never know what day the prize of a car or whatever is on offer but a referee came up to me to confirm the car was on offer for all four days.

“I was really nervous on the next tee because I thought to myself you can’t follow a hole-in-one shot with a poor tee shot at the next.”

Ironically, his seven-year old daughter, Millie has been hinting to her father to buy an open top car and now McLeary has one with his very first European Tour ace.

He said:  “My daughter has been asking for a red coloured car with no roof.

“Well, I’ve now got a silver car with red leather upholstery and no roof, so I am sure she will still be happy.

“I have been driving a Mercedes but only just returned it to the dealers, so I was looking for another one and this will do nicely.”

McLeary went onto to post a five under par 66 for a then share of ninth place at six under par.

McLeary is also the second Scot this year to win a Mercedes for an ace after Richie Ramsay won a £130,000 Mercedes V-12 M760 limo with a hole-in-one during June’s BMW International Open in Germany.

Thunderstorms have played havoc with the third round not starting to 3.15pm (Sat) local time).