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Two golfing friends defied odds of 17 million to one by achieving the sport’s holy grail: a hole-in-one in consecutive shots.
Steve Wilmhurst, 58, and his playing partner Liam Nairn, 70, achieved the extraordinary feat on Monday while playing the 16th hole at Studley Wood Golf Club in Oxfordshire.
Wilmhurst and Nairn were playing as a foursome, and the National Hole-In-One Registry estimates that the odds of two players achieving the feat on the same hole are 17 million to 1. An individual player is estimated at 12,000 to 1 to achieve a hole-in-one.
The par three 16th hole at Studley Wood measures 167 yards and it was Nairn who hit first to record what was his first ever hole-in-one.
“I was absolutely thrilled because it was so rare for something like this to happen to me, so I was over the moon,” he told the BBC. “I thought, ‘I’ve got a hole in one, this is incredible’. We were all jumping up and down and high-fiving each other, so [it was] a really, really happy event.
Lightning struck twice
Wilmhurst had already made a hole-in-one about 20 years ago and was next to tee off. “We all saw Liam’s ball go all the way to the green and into the hole,” he said.
“The ball hit the flagstick on the way in, so we heard it go in as well, then about 30 seconds later I shot and it was gone, so I went down to the green thinking I missed and put it in the bunker.
“When Liam went to get his ball from the hole, I didn’t believe him when he said, ‘Oh, yours is there too.’ I thought he was joking. I had to check that it wasn’t April Fools’ Day.”
The two friends play golf together up to four times a week and both bought drinks that afternoon for everyone at the club bar.
“The chances are diminishing the longer we’ve played, but it’s a wonderful thing, it doesn’t happen very often,” Wilmhurst said.
