Nacho Elvira experienced golf's fine margins on Friday as he was denied a slam-dunk hole-in-one by a matter of inches at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The Spaniard got off to a fast start on day two, picking up birdies on the second, fifth and ninth to lead at the turn.
He then sandwiched his first bogey of the week at the 11th between birdies on the tenth and 13th to stay towards the top end of the leaderboard.
But he was cruelly denied what would have been an astonishing ace at the par-three 17th as his ball landed inches from the cup before running ten feet by.
And although he had to settle for a par there, Elvira signed for a 68 to head into the weekend on 11 under par.
Elvira came into the penultimate Rolex Series event of the season 46th on the Race to Dubai Rankings knowing this was his last chance to cement his place in the top 50 and punch his ticket for next week's season finale.
And even though he was denied a memorable moment on the 17th, Elvira was pleased with his work so far.
Speaking about the near-miss, he said: "It was very close.
"It landed to about six inches off the hole and I didn't even make a birdie. But it's golf.
"I'm happy, the way I'm hitting it. If I can keep putting myself in good positions towards the weekend, hopefully I'll have a good week.
"It clicks when it wants to click. I wish it could click everywhere for me, but it just doesn't and hopefully it can click this week and the next."
