Rory McIlroy made the first professional hole-in-one of his career as he closed the gap at the top of the leader board in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.

McIlroy landed the ace on the 15th, the same hole where Miguel Angel Jimenez had sank his ball off the tee in the first round, to move up to 10 under par and third place.

The world number one had started the day strongly with two birdies and reached the turn in 35, before back-to-back birdies on 10 and 11 followed by his sensational 15th hole put him within three shots of runaway leaders Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters.

When asked if a hole-in-one was one of the goals for the year he had written on the back of his boarding pass, Rory said: “No that wasn’t one of my goals but I guess that’s just somethings that’s a nice little bonus.

“It was a nice number, it was 177 down wind with a nine iron.”

The second round is still in progress.