Tag: National Hole-In-One Registry

Did Barstool’s Riggs make a hole-in-one at Bandon Dunes? And what’s the rule on a ball being lodged against the flagstick?

Riggs set Twitter ablaze when he inferred that he’d made an ace at the famous Oregon resort.

Barstool Sports’ Sam “Riggs” Bozoian missed this week’s edition of the Fore Play podcast because he was off playing Bandon Dunes.

So although he wasn’t part of the twice-weekly podcast, he lit the Twitterverse (X-verse?) ablaze on Friday when he posted that he’d just made an ace at the famous Oregon resort that houses five of the top 14 courses on the Golfweek’s Best top 100 U.S. public-access layouts list.

Via social media, Riggs said he was buying drinks for those on hand at Bandon Dunes after he posted this photo, which infers that he made an ace:

It’s tough to see in the photo if any part of the ball is below the lip of the hole. But if it’s not, rule 13.2c of the USGA Rules and Interpretations explains this scenario in detail.

13.2c. Ball Resting Against Flagstick in Hole

If your ball comes to rest against the flagstick left in the hole, and any part of your ball is in the hole below the surface of the putting green, your ball is treated as holed.

If no part of your ball is in the hole below the surface of the putting green:

Your ball is not holed and must be played as it lies.

If the flagstick is removed and your ball moves (whether it falls into the hole or moves away from the hole), there is no penalty and it must be replaced on the lip of the hole.

According to the National Hole-In-One Association, a tee shot hit by an amateur golfer on a par 3 goes into the hole one out of every 12,750 times.

This former Winged Foot pro just made back-to-back holes-in-one at the U.S. Senior Open

As if making an ace in a major tournament isn’t enough of a once-in-a-lifetime thrill, he did it twice.

As if making an ace in a major tournament isn’t enough of a once-in-a-lifetime thrill, a club pro who splits time between Florida and the Northeast decided to do it twice in the span of two holes.

Incredibly, Frank Bensel Jr., a club pro based in Jupiter, Florida, stepped to the 184-yard No. 4 at Newport Country Club and made a hole-in-one. Then the former Winged Foot pro, who has split time between Century Country Club outside of New York City and the Country Club of Mirasol in West Palm Beach, Florida, did something truly amazing.

The 56-year-old Bensel, who played collegiately at Maryland, walked up to the 203-yard No. 5 and did it again.

The National Hole-In-One Registry calculates the odds of making two aces in one round as 67-million-to-1. There are no odds available for back-to-back aces, perhaps because few people have considered it, but mainly because most courses don’t have back-to-back par 3s. 

It’s the first there’s ever been back-to-back aces in a Tour-sanctioned event.

Bensel, who shot 75 on Thursday in the opening round, followed with four straight bogeys. His previous major start was at the 2021 PGA Championship, where he finished 21 over after an opening 86.

But Bensel now has a story that is truly one for the ages.