Saltman brings home the bacon

Madrid - Briton Elliot Saltman hammed it up in style in Friday's Madrid Masters second round as he captured a hole-in-one, remarkably his third of the year.

Saltman's ace came at El Encin's 204-yard third hole and it earned the 29-year-old Scot his weight in Iberico ham. Weighing in at 240 lbs, Saltman can look forward to dining out on his prize, worth more than 8,000 euros ($10,722), for some weeks.

"This is going to last me until next Christmas, never mind this one," Saltman told Reuters. "I've been trying to lose some weight but I'm glad now I've not lost that much."

While Saltman's hole-in-one with a seven-iron failed to get him past the cut, his playing-partner, England's Lee Slattery, held an early one-stroke lead over the field on an 11-under-par 133.

"It's great to be on top but I hope Elliot's going to send me some ham when we get home," the leader said.

Saltman's stroke of fortune follows his rare achievement in June when he claimed two aces in the same week at Celtic Manor in the Wales Open.

In May he came within an inch of another hole-in-one, which would have won him a car, at the Majorca Open.

It has not been all smiles for Saltman this year. He served a three-month ban at the start of the season after being found guilty of putting irregularities in last year's Russian Challenge event.