Hole in one when it matters

[mason55]

Jim Furyk's victory today via an ace made me wonder this.

Has anyone ever hit one when it REALLY mattered? Like 2 shots back going into a par 3 18th and nailing it? Or maybe going into 18 on Sunday tied and acing it?

And by "has" I mean I'd like some stories or links or whatever. Most of the time when you hear about aces it's from some guy who's like 22 strokes back on the front 9 on thursday.

[jtg51]

Very few courses end with par 3's. Congressional does sometimes and, of course, there's also Pine Valley in Southington, CT. There probably aren't many more. At least not that host professional tournaments.

[TurdFerguson]

FYI, 18th holes on most courses are either par 4 or par 5. In my experience it is very rare for the 18th to be a par 3, which would probably explain why your scenario likely hasn't happened in a major event.

[mason55]

ok ok, how about on 17? or really just any cool story about someone hitting a hole-in-one to take a lead or tie late on sunday.

[andyfox]

I made one on 17 to pull even in my match. I would have won it with another one on 18, but the damn windmill came around and knocked my ball away.

[mason55]

[ QUOTE ]
JACK NICKLAUS: "I was 13 and playing in the junior club championship against a very nice golfer, Bill Cowman. We got to the 17th hole our first time around in the 36-hole final, and he hit it about a foot from the hole. Then I stepped up and knocked my shot in the hole with an 8-iron. The second time around on 17 he knocked it close again and made a two and won the hole. His father said, 'See, I told you if you kept making two, you'd win the hole.' I'm happy to say I had the last laugh. I won the match 1-up on the 38th hole, so the hole-in-one was as valuable as it was memorable."

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Jack

[MicroBob]

EVERYONE - I made a hole-in-one tonight on the 18th hole of miniature golf to win a free game.
This was the only 'free game' hole so I'm pretty sure this qualifies as aceing it when it really matters (although it did not matter to the score of the game as I had already clobbered my GF by 20 strokes by that point).

It had to go up a steep ramp and perfectly roll up this skinny frog-tongue to get into its mouth.
A loud bell went off so everyone on the course knew I aced it.
The lady quickly came by with my coupon for a free-game at 'Goofy Golf' and my life was officially complete.

[andyfox]

Sam Snead said Cary Middlecoff told him this story about Ben Hogan.

16th hole at Augusta. Middlecoff is up and hits it into the hole for an ace. Crowd goes crazy. Hogan says nothing. Hogan then tees off and hits it about 15 feet from the cup.

They walk across the bridge and again the crowd goes crazy. Still nothing from Hogan. Middlecoff walks over to the pin, reaches in and pulls out his ball, and yet again, the crowd is delirious. Nada from Hogan.

Hogan lines up hit putt and knocks it in for a birdie to polite applause. They leave the green and again the crowd cheers Middlecoff wildly.

Since they only took three strokes between them, they have a wait on the 17th tee. Finally, Hogan moves over toward Middlecoff and Middlecoff thinks Hogan will finally congratulate him.

"You know, Cary," says Hogan, "I can't remember the last time I made two on that hole."

[jtg51]

Also, I'm pretty sure Paul Casey won a Ryder Cup match with a hole in one last year, but it wasn't on 18.

[JaredL]

Mason,

Not quite what you're after, but I found this interesting.

Hole in one insurance. Makes sense if you think about it but I hadn't. So your local course reduces variance for their promotion by buying insurance.

here's a USA Today article that has some interesting stuff.