For most, a hole-in-one might qualify as a lifetime achievement. Akshay Bhatia had his first at age 11 — Pinehurst No. 2 with a 7-wood — and now he’s done it six times.

But the most recent one will be hard to top, because his 5-iron shot on No. 17 at the BMW Championship was his first hole-in-one on the PGA Tour — a wild roll-in Saturday that has the power to change lives beyond his own.

The 23-year-old was looking for a strong finish to his third round and, after a birdie on 16, he was feeling confident. He went for an aggressive shot at the 17th and saw the ball’s arc crest left to a point just a few feet in front of the hole.

Bhatia didn’t see the ball roll in. But he did see his caddie, John Limanti, jumping up and down while pointing at the BMW iX70 that now belonged to him for hitting the shot.

“My caddie was pointing at the car and I’m like, don’t even know what to do,” Bhatia said. “I couldn’t even feel my body.”

Winning a car, however, has little to do with why Bhatia started leaping himself.

Bhatia started the week in precarious position in the FedEx Cup standings at No. 29. Entering Saturday, he was tied for 37th in the BMW field, which left him projected on the outside of the top 30 qualifiers for the Tour Championship.

Bhatia responded with an inspired 4-under round Saturday, which included two of the best holes of his PGA career. On No. 7, Bhatia eagled from 92 yards with a sand wedge, getting a friendly roll back on the hole-out. His hole-in-one was from 227 yards, a critical make that helped him crack the projected top 30 of the field with just 18 more holes to play this weekend.

Getting a pair of hole-outs on the same day is a fortuitous sign for one of the tour’s up-and-coming players.

“I’ve been close for a long, long time on Tour,” Bhatia said. “Quail Hollow, I hit the flag on 17. Mexico this year, I hit it to like an inch. It’s always been so, so close.”

But, as much as it could be life-changing for Bhatia to make the Tour Championship cut this weekend, his hole-in-one potentially has even more profound consequences for a young caddie.

In addition to giving Bhatia a car, BMW will donate $125,000 to the Evans Scholars program, which will go toward a four-year scholarship for a teenage caddie who qualifies based on academics, financial need and demonstrated character.

Steve Colnitis is the chairman of the Western Golf Association, which hosts the BMW Championship and runs the Evans Scholars program. He was alerted to Bhatia’s money shot by the commotion in his hospitality tent. He surveyed the scene in time to watch Bhatia pluck the ball out of No. 17.

“To be able to pay for one more kid for a whole year is a wonderful thing,” Colnitis said. “We are very excited.”

It’s a big week for Colnitis, a Lutherville resident and Baltimore Country Club member who is watching PGA pros play on a course he estimates he’s played 300 times. On Monday, the Evans Scholars program cut the ribbon on a refurbished house in College Park that will host the 21 scholarship caddies for the upcoming school year at the University of Maryland. “It’s a beautiful, beautiful house, and It’s gonna serve us well,” Colnitis said.

Bhatia’s hole-in-one represents one more scholarship for one more caddie. It’s the seventh time BMW has offered the enticement. Bhatia, who once had his now-fiancée serve as his caddie, said he appreciated the experience of Evans Scholars getting to walk inside the ropes with the PGA pros.

“It’s the coolest thing,” he said. “It warms my heart that a golf shot that I hit can help a kid get a full scholarship.”

As for the car? That might benefit someone else, too. Bhatia said he doesn’t need another car and might give it to his caddie, Limanti, or donate it to charity. The boost in the standings, and the shot itself, is reward enough.

“I can rest my head on my pillow knowing I made a hole-in-one on the PGA Tour,” Bhatia said with a grin.