Tag: Holes-in-one

Aces wild: Check out the four holes-in-one at 2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba

Here’s a quick review of the four aces south of the border, which meant cervezas for everybody.

If you thought 4 Aces was just the name of Dustin Johnson’s juggernaut of a team in LIV Golf, you’d be wrong. There were four aces this week at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, too.

The last time there were four holes-in-one in a single PGA Tour event? That would be at the 2019 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. What is it about the par-3s at El Camaleon Golf Club in Riviera Maya, Mexico, that serves up aces and opens the bars?

Here’s a quick review of the four aces south of the border, which meant cervezas for everybody.

Steve Marks got his first hole-in-one – and his second – within 20 minutes of each other

Imagine hitting two holes-in-one in four holes. That’s what Steve Marks did.

Steve Marks didn’t really think about his shot into the par-3 12th. He simply grabbed his hybrid, put a tee in the ground and swung.

His nerves were still high. 20 minutes earlier, the 68-year-old Marks recorded the first hole-in-one of his 61-year golf career at his home course, Idlewild Country Club in Flossmoor, Illinois. He just wanted to make solid contact, still shaking from his crazy achievement only three holes prior.

Little did he know, his round was about to get a whole lot better.

Not only did he make solid contact, but Marks’ shot also went in the hole. Another ace. Two in four holes.

“It’s just incredible,” Marks told Golfweek. “The more I think about it, and the more people I talk to, the more incredible it is.”

The odds of having two aces during the same round are roughly 1 in 67 million, according to the National Hole in One Registry. The feat has only been accomplished three times on the PGA Tour, most recently by Brian Harman at The Barclays in 2015.

“I’ve been playing golf for more than 60 years, and you know when you hit a good shot,” Marks said. “But a good shot and going in the hole are two different things.”

Marks, who works in the jewelry business, has played nearly 1,000 rounds during his lifetime, but the one from late September stands out the most.

His first hole-in-one came on the ninth. The hole measured at 137 yards into a stiff breeze, so Marks clubbed up twice and hit a 5-iron. The shot bounced off a slope and tracked toward the cup before tumbling in.

The ninth tee box is situated close to the driving range and some pickleball courts, so plenty of people joined in on the celebration.

“I was calling everyone,” Marks said. “I’m shaken. It was just a whole great thing.”

Twenty minutes later, Marks was on the tee box of the par-3 12th hole. It faced the same direction as the par-3 ninth, so he pulled extra club on the 159-yard hole, a 21-degree hybrid. He was still in somewhat of a shock from what happened earlier.

“I was not even thinking,” Marks said of his shot, “and it went straight. It was a really good track but seemed to me because it was into the wind, it was a little short.

“And it bounced, maybe on the collar. Went straight up in the air, and boom. Slam dunk.”

Marks admits he wasn’t fully paying attention to his shot on the 12th hole because he remained engulfed in his emotions from the ninth.

And it’s not the first ace for his family at Idlewild this year. Marks’ wife, Shelly, hit one in May, so of the club’s five holes-in-one this year, three belong to the Marks family.

Marks said he’s in the process of making a custom shadowbox to display both his hole-in-one golf balls. He ended up shooting an 85 that day (he’s a 15 handicap), but all that will stand out on the scorecard are his two aces.

And frankly, he’s happy with that score. He doesn’t quite remember the final six holes of his round. On the 18th, there was a small crowd of people around the green, including his wife and plenty of friends, and Marks was just trying not to blade his wedge into the people behind the putting surface.

On the final par 3 at Idlewild, the 16th, Marks said some members gathered around to see whether there was any chance he was going to hit another ace.

But it’s safe to say 68 years was worth the wait for his first ace. And, his second came only 20 minutes later.

“There’s not a time that it doesn’t enter my mind,” Marks said. “When I go to bed at night and close my eyes, I think of at least the one on No. 9 and how it went in.

“You don’t want to toot your own horn, but I still have people coming up to me and telling me it’s just unbelievable how you did this.”

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This 82-year-old Florida golfer never made a hole-in-one — until he dropped two in one round

“You can probably guess the advice I was getting,” he said. “Buy a lottery ticket on the way home. I did not.”

NAPLES, Florida — Tom Peek is 82 and has been playing golf for over 50 years.

He had never made a hole-in-one. Now he has two.

Wednesday at Royal Palm Golf Club, Peek made an ace on the 91-yard No. 5, and followed that up three holes later with one on No. 8 from 112 yards. He used a 7-iron for both.

“I’ve been playing off and on for 50 years, and got several close within a foot or so,” Peek said. “Nothing ever dropped in until (Wednesday). It seems like they all wanted to fall in. It was fun.”

“Don’t ask me about the rest of the game because I’m not sure I remember very much,” Peek added with a chuckle.

Peek stepped up on No. 5, a par 3 over water, and hit his “handy” 7-iron.

“I just made a clean stroke on it,” he said. “We really couldn’t see the cup itself because the green has a little bit of an undulation about three-quarters of the way. I saw the ball hit and roll toward the flagstick but really couldn’t see it go in the hole. One of the other guys said ‘I think that hit the flagstick.'”

“When we got there, sure enough it was in the hole. Everybody was excited about that.”

Peek was playing a two-best-ball-net game with playing partners Bob Fitch and Bob Furey, both of whom he knew, and Jon Parrillo, who he had never played with before. Peek got a stroke via his handicap on the hole. One of the others made a birdie, so their total for the hole with their handicap was a 2.

“I had a hole-in-one for a net zero on our scorecard,” he said with a laugh. “It was a fun day.”

That continued on No. 8, which Peek said was playing around 120 yards.

“I just made another nice swing and we could all observe it in the air and when it hit on the green,” he said. “I’m guessing it hit maybe 5 feet from the hole, kind of took a short hop and rolled right in the hole.

“At this point, I think there were a few people playing up behind us who had come up to the tee box. They couldn’t believe it.”

And it was unbelievable. Peek had just accomplished something that according to Golf Digest was 67 million to one.

“You can probably guess the advice I was getting,” he said. “Buy a lottery ticket on the way home. I did not.”

Peek didn’t pick up the game until his late 20s, when the second lieutenant in the Air Force who was stationed in Grand Forks, North Dakota, was asked by others to give it a try.

“There was a city golf course a mile or so away,” Peek said.

Peek and his wife Nora, who also was an engineering student, met in college at the University of Tennessee, and came down to Naples in 1968, following her father, a retired career military officer.

Peek was a partner in the engineering firm Wilson, Miller, Barton & Peek before retiring. He helped design Pelican Bay and Bonita Bay, among countless others. He joined Royal Palm in 2002.

“All of the time I was working, I never had time to play a lot of golf,” he said.

After his feat Thursday, word spread quickly, and so did the number of people coming to the clubhouse for the traditional free drink. Peek was thankful he had paid into the club’s “hole-in-one” insurance.

“Everybody was having happy hour at noontime or slightly thereafter,” he said.

Peek already has received many congratulatory messages, including one from a close friend and former neighbor.

“Congratulations, what a feat!” the message read. “I wish I could’ve been there to see that happen. I’ll just settle for ‘I know that guy.'”

Peek probably has made many new friends along the way now, too.

Greg Hardwig is a sports reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @NDN_Ghardwig, email him at ghardwig@naplesnews.com. Support local journalism with this special subscription offer at https://cm.naplesnews.com/specialoffer/

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Pair of aces: A Patti and a Patty each made a hole-in-one in the same round in Arizona

Playing together, Patti Thompson and Patty Southwick each made an ace.

Hole-in-one stories are always fun. This is another good one.

The Troon North Women’s Golf Association played its final event of the season Thursday in Scottsdale, Arizona.

One of the foursomes included Patti Thompson and Patty Southwick. When the group got to No. 7 of Troon North’s Monument course, Thompson pulled out her new 6-hybrid and sent her ball flying on the 115-yard hole. Seconds later, the ball was in the cup for an ace.

Six holes later, Southwick – sporting her Masters visor – hit her 4-hybrid from 128 yards and also found the hole.

Two aces, same round, similar first names. Quite a day for the duo.

The National Hole-In-One Registry reports that only 16 percent of aces reported are made by women.

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Florida man makes hole-in-one on same hole in consecutive rounds

Raymond Brunelle used an 8-iron and then a pitching wedge to accomplish this amazing feat.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Raymond Brunelle knows how special a hole-in-one is in golf. He hadn’t had one in almost a half century.

He was thrilled when he aced the par-3 16th on the Heritage Course at The Club at Ibis on Oct. 2 with an 8-iron from 160 yards even though he wasn’t certain until he found the ball in the hole.

“It was kind of hazy that day,” the 63-year-old Brunelle said. “We saw it bounce toward the hole and disappear, but we weren’t absolutely sure it was in the hole or hidden behind the pin. When we got to the green, we didn’t see and, sure enough, it was in the hole.”

Four days later, Brunelle, who lives in West Palm Beach, returned to the 16th hole at the Heritage, knowing the golf gods are good at extracting their revenge.

“I just didn’t want to embarrass myself,” he said. “I was hoping just to make a par.”

Instead, using a pitching wedge from 128 yards, it was déjà vu all over again as the ball disappeared into the hole. And this time, they could celebrate on the tee.

“There was no question it went in the hole,” Brunelle said. “I had two hole-in-ones as a junior, but to make two in a row on the same hole … What are the odds of making two hole-in-ones in the same week, let alone consecutive rounds, with different clubs, different tees and different conditions.”

But the same result.

Raymond Brunelle
The scorecard for Raymond Brunelle showing his hole-in-one on the par-3 16th hole at the Heritage Course at The Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Oct. 2, 2021. Photo by Raymond Brunelle

The odds of the average golfer making a hole-in-one are 12,500-to-1 and it happens once every 3,500 rounds, according to the National Hole-in-One Registry. The odds of a player making two holes-in-one in the same round is 67-million-1.

Normally, making a pair of holes-in-one can be an expensive deal. The player traditionally is supposed to buy drinks for everyone in the clubhouse. At The Club at Ibis, members who make a hole-in-one are given a $50 credit to take care of their friends.

Brunelle has a new best friend – the 16th at Heritage. During his next round on the hole Wednesday, he hit it to 8 feet. No hat trick, but definitely not embarrassing.

“When I step on that tee, I feel like, “Yeah, I got this hole,’” he said.

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Pair of aces in Arkansas lifts Nasa Hataoka to fifth career LPGA title

Nasa Hataoka became just the fifth player in LPGA Tour history to make two aces in one tournament.

After a pair of aces in two days, Nasa Hataoka couldn’t have made it look easier to start the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

It didn’t end that way though, as a shaky three-putt par on the last gave Hataoka the one-stroke cushion needed to collect her fifth career title. The powerfully petite Japanese player finished at 16-under 197 for the week at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Arkansas.

“It was really, really stressful, especially after the bogey,” said Hataoka of the dropped shot on the 13th that could’ve been much worse had her racing putt not hit the hole and popped up.

Minjee Lee put a solid stroke on a final birdie attempt that slid by the hole to finish tied with Eun-Hee Ji at 15 under. Ji got up and down from a greenside bunker behind the green using only her putter.

Danielle Kang and Yuka Saso both shot 65 to finish in a share of fourth. Saso carded two eagles on Sunday including a sensational approach shot into the 18th with a 5-wood that stopped 4 feet from the hole. After a month off from the tour, she was pleased with the week.

Kang, who debuted as a pro at Pinnacle, said she’s focused on finishing the season strong.

“I’m actually very proud of the work that I’ve done this week,” she said. “I left a lot out there, but I was mentally in a really great place.”

Arkansas stars Stacy Lewis and Maria Fassi played together on Sunday. Lewis’s 66 moved her into a share of sixth at 12 under. Fassi, who launched her foundation this week, struggled to a 73 in the final round and dropped to T-51.

“I played really solid,” said Lewis. “Just never really got the putter going any day. I mean, today I made five birdies and three of them were within about a foot and a half and one was a chip-in.”

India’s Aditi Ashok, who came within one shot of a medal at the Olympics, took a share of eighth.

“I feel like I did good,” Ashok said of the boost she received from Tokyo, “and that was a huge takeaway. I feel like I can actually play well out here, and not just struggle to make putts. I can finish well, like I did in my rookie year. I had a top 10; the second year I had a couple top 10s. After that it’s been a bit of a dry spell.”

Hataoka has now passed Hiromi Kobayashi for third-most victories by a Japanese player, trailing Ayako Okamoto (17) and Ai Miyazato (9).

LPGA Walmart NW Arkansas Championship
Nasa Hataoka poses after making a hole-in-one on the 11th hole during the first round of the LPGA NW Arkansas Championship at the Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Arkansas. Photo by Kyodo via AP Images

Hataoka’s ace on Friday came on No. 11 when she struck a 9-iron from 135 yards. Saturday’s hole-in-one came on the sixth hole from 175 yards with a 5-iron.

She became just the fifth player in LPGA Tour history to make two aces in one tournament – the first since Ayako Uehara at the 2016 CP Women’s Open – and is the fourth to do it in back-to-back rounds. Hataoka is also the fourth player to have at least two aces in two different seasons, joining Betsy King (2, 1979 and 2, 1990), Meg Mallon (2, 1999 and 2, 2001) and Charlotta Sorenstam (2, 2001 and 3, 2002).

For the aces, CME Group will donate $20,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

“I’m also happy that I got the hole-in-ones,” said Hataoka, “but on the other hand, I’m really, really happy to be able to help the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. That’s what makes my really happy.”

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‘It’s just unbelievable’: Florida duo posts consecutive holes-in-one during tournament

The odds of pulling this off were 17,000,000 to 1.

A golfer who hits a hole-in-one at the Heritage Oaks Golf & Country Club receives not only congratulatory handshakes from playing partners, but a plaque on one of the club walls.

The plaque contains the golfer’s name, the hole aced and its yardage, along with the date. But the back-to-back, holes-in-one recorded by Georges Lussier and David Brown really deserve plaques that stand out from the rest.

Perhaps one plaque, twice as large as the others, or even bigger. The odds of a golfer striking a hole-in-one are 12,500 to 1. The odds of pulling off what Lussier and Brown did last Thursday at a Florida State Golf Association (FSGA) one-day event are just a wee bit higher.

17,000,000 to 1.

“We were just amazed,” said Lussier, a 69-year-old retired mortgage banker and 36-year Sarasota resident, “and so were the two guys we were playing with, obviously.”

“It’s just unbelievable,” said Brown, a 61-year-old St. Petersburg resident, realtor, and former club pro in Maine. “It’s so rare. And to do it in back-to-back swings. Talk about a (career) highlight. And to have it be with a friend of mine.”

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Because Lussier and Brown both play every Saturday in a foursome, they requested to be paired together for the event at Heritage. They were joined by Kurt Wicklund and Andrew Weiss, two golfers they didn’t know. When the group reached the par-3, 155-yard No. 15 hole, Wicklund and Weiss shot first.

Grabbing his 7-iron, Lussier, a 10-handicapper, drove his ball straight down the middle. “I saw it hit the green and that’s all I saw. I knew I hit it straight at the hole.”

“I could see it land, but I couldn’t see it run up,” said Brown, who owns a 6 handicap. “We’re not jumping up and down screaming.” Brown then selected an 8-iron to hit a shot so well, he said to Lussier, “That’s got a chance to be inside your ball.”

The two got in their cart and drove to the green, where Wicklund and Weiss already stood, and spotted two balls, each about 15 feet past the hole. “We thought those were our balls,” Lussier said. “I got out of the cart,” Brown said, “and said, ‘Georges, this is weird. Why are there no balls up by the hole?’” Because it had rained and the greens were soft, Brown spotted two balls marks, one a foot in front of the hole, the other 10 feet in front.

One of Lussier’s and Brown’s playing partners then walked up to the hole and said, “There’s two balls in the hole.” Once the shock had worn off, Wicklund and Weiss proceeded to putt for a birdie and par, meaning the foursome was 5-under for the hole.

Last month, in England, two men recorded consecutive holes-in-one, each using the same club. But in July, at the Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono, Maine, something perhaps even more rare happened to Steve Norton and Susan Hunter. After Norton recorded an ace on the 154-yard No. 4 hole. Hunter followed him with an almost identical shot. But as her ball neared the hole, it deflected away.

Actually, it had gone in the hole, but since COVID-19, golf courses in Maine were mandated either to turn the cup upside down in the hole, or place inside a piece of foam, the idea being golfers could avoid germs from touching the bottom of the cup. With Norton’s ball already in a hole with a shallower bottom, Hunter’s ball popped up , depriving the two the notoriety now shared by Lussier and Brown.

It was Lussier’s third hole-in-one and Brown’s second, his first coming in his 20s. As for back-to-back aces, he said it’s never been done on the PGA or European tours.

“A lot of people get holes-in-one,” Brown said.

No one does this.

Hey, Heritage, spring for the bigger plaque.

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Florida man makes three holes-in-one in five days: ‘I just have had a lot of luck’

“They call me Ace now, though.”

Jim Wolklin had three of a kind from Feb. 12-16 at Heritage Bay Golf & Country Club in Naples.

Three of a kind as in three aces.

“Just a wild time,” Wolklin said last week.

Golf has been pretty wild for Wolklin since he got back into the game in the 1980s. The three holes-in-one at Heritage Bay gave him a total of 11.

“When you least expect them, they go in the hole,” said Wolklin, 68. “It’s when you’re not thinking about it, and you’re just trying to make par.”

Wolklin’s wild stretch started on Feb. 12 on No. 13 on the Cypress Course, holing out with an 8-iron from 144 yards with Gary Bradbury, Brad Kroll and Randy Johnson witnessing. Three days later, Wolklin made his second on the 148-yard No. 21 Oak with a 7-iron, with David Foltz, Anthony Nizzardo and Michael McCarthy witnessing. The third was the next day, with his wife Cheryl, Steve Kosek and Mary Kosek witnessing the 9-iron from 130 yards on No. 26 on the Oak Course.

“It’s regular rounds playing with friends,” Wolklin said. “I hit a good shot and then it’s one or two bounces right in the hole.”

“I actually thought his was in,” Wolklin said. “Another player standing on the tee box said it rolled right by the hole.”

On the second one, Wolklin’s playing partners had never witnessed an ace.

“You’re not going to believe this, but I had one on Friday,” he told them afterward.

On the last ace, his wife Cheryl got to witness it when the two of them and another couple were playing near dusk.

“We got up on the green and there was one ball on the green, and we knew that there were two balls going toward the green,” he said. “We were getting closer and closer, and there’s definitely a ball in the hole. I look down and it’s my ball in the hole.”

Mary Kosek’s ball was the other on the green, and 4 feet away. She made her birdie putt.

“That was one of the most rewarding things,” Wolklin said.

Wolklin, who played golf in high school, has been at Heritage Bay for two years after being a member at Lost Lakes in Hobe Sound. His home club is Stanton Ridge Golf & Country Club in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. Seven of his aces have been there, with the other coming at Somerset Hills Country Club in Bernardsville, New Jersey. For that one, his son Luke was caddying for him.

“I just have had a lot of luck,” said Wolklin, who owned boat dealerships and catering halls, and still owns a hotel and one hall. “I don’t know what to tell you. I play with pros and some of them don’t have any.”

But there is that expectation from his playing partners when Wolklin steps up on the tee at a par 3 he has to try to block out.

“When we get to a par-3, and I set up, the people are expecting it to go in the hole, which adds a little bit of pressure,” Wolklin said.

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Campbell golf teammates make holes-in-one in same round

For the second time in a week, two golf teammates made a hole-in-one in the same round.

For the second time in a week, two golf teammates made a hole-in-one in the same round.

Campbell University’s Edwin Blomander and Henrik Lilja are the latest pair to pull off the trick on Sunday. Five days ago, two high school teammates in Arizona pulled it off. The high school kids did it on the same hole in consecutive groups.

Blomander is a junior and Lilja is a sophomore. They are both from Sweden.

In a tweet announcing the feat, Campbell asked about the odds of two aces in the same round.

The National Hole-In-One Registry reports that the odds are 67 million to 1.

#RollHumps, indeed.

Two Arizona high school teammates ace the same hole in season’s first match

High school golfer Cody Besetti: “Once I hit the ball and saw where it as going, I thought to myself, ‘Holy crap, this might have a chance.'”

Here’s something good to remember about 2020.

In Arizona, in the Phoenix Desert Vista High School’s first boys golf match of the season on Tuesday, two Thunder players finished their matches by acing the 156-yard, par-3 ninth hole at the Arizona Country Club, both using an 8 iron.

First, sophomore Ross Koscis finished up his round with his first-ever hole-in-one.

“I didn’t even realize it until I walked up to the green,” he said. “My coach was the first one to see it in the hole, because he drove up to the green. When he saw it, he screamed, ‘You made a hole-in-one!”

Koscis said he started jumping up and down after he heard coach Matt Russo say that.

In the next group, it was junior Cody Besetti’s turn.

“It was insane,” Besetti said. “When I got to the ninth hole, I asked my coach if Ross actually got an ace or if it was a typo. I couldn’t believe it. So I got up to the hole and my coach said, ‘Show me what you can do.’

Cody Besetti
Phoenix Desert Vista High School junior golfer Cody Besetti celebrates his hole-in-one on the 156-yard, par-3 ninth hole at the Arizona Country Club. He used an 8 iron. Photo by Matt Russo

“Once I hit the ball and saw where it as going, I thought to myself, ‘Holy crap, this might have a chance.’ Once it slowly rolled into the side of the hole, I started freaking out and my coach just stood there in disbelief that he just saw two holes-in-one in a row after never seeing one before. I don’t even know how I reacted since I was so caught up in the moment. I felt like I was on top of the world.”

Russo wasn’t able to capture the actual hole-in-one by each golfer on video, but he made a video them each holding the ball on the green to commemorate the moments.

In his memo to the school on Wednesday, Russo wrote, “If I had video of the actual shots, we would belong on Sportscenter.”

“It really was one of the most amazing things you can see in sports for it to happen twice in a row on the same hole,” Russo said.

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