Shane Lowry poked fun at with a cheeky comment after both players hit hole-in-ones at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Thursday.

McIlroy achieved the second ace of his PGA Tour career with a perfect tee shot on the par-three 15th hole. He watched the ball go straight into the hole without touching the green and celebrated with playing partner Ludvig Aberg.

, finding the cup with his effort from the tee on the seventh hole. After finishing his round, the 37-year-old taunted McIlroy by insisting that his ace was the better of the two.

Asked if he had seen what McIlroy had done, Lowry responded: "Yeah. Slam-dunked it, didn't he? Yeah, mine is definitely better."

Both players finished their opening round on six-under-par, leaving them tied for eighth place ahead of the second round at Spyglass Hill.

Reflecting on his brilliant hole-in-one, Lowry put it down to the 'luck of the Irish' and said he was happy to split the bar tab and join McIlroy for some quiet celebrations in the clubhouse.

"I tried to just flight one down and chase it up the green and get it up there somewhere close to the hole," he explained. "It came out lovely just left of the hole, which is where you need to pitch it if you want to get it real close.

"Yeah, big bounce, it was perfect. It just spun and spun right into the hole. It was pretty cool. Look, when stuff like that happens, I've been very lucky with all the ones. There and Augusta and Sawgrass.

"I don't know what to say. I guess it's just luck of the Irish or something, I don't know. I know I'm pretty good at times, but a bit of luck every now and then is helpful, too."

McIlroy, meanwhile, was equally delighted after securing his first ace on the PGA Tour since the Travellers Championship in 2023.

"It's such an elevated tee that the ball's in the air and you know it's online but you don't know whether to say 'go!' or 'sit!' or 'spin' or 'release'," he said.

"You're looking at it and you're watching where it might land on the green and the thing just disappears. It was a good swing, a good wedge shot and it was obviously a nice little moment."