The Loop
Man makes TWO aces in one round, loses both golf balls on ensuing tee shots
Gregory P. Shaughnessy isn't one to sugarcoat his abilities on the golf course.
"Let's just say I'm a high handicapper," he says.
Fair enough. But now he's a high handicapper who can confidently say he's accomplished something very few golfers of any ability have. Two holes-in-one. In the same round.
The seemingly impossible feat happened on August 27 when Shaughnessy was invited to play Rockville Links Club in Rockville Centre, N.Y. by his friend and neighbor, Ryan Byrne. The first ace came on the fifth hole when Shaughnessy knocked in a 7-iron from 135 yards that his threesome and two caddies could see.
"The first ace made me chuckle a bit as I was having such a bad round that day," said Shaughnessy, 40, a co-founder of a real estate private equity firm in Stamford, CT. "On the fifth hole, you can see the stick so we could tell right away what had happened. It was a pretty cool feeling and I was glad I could share it with one of my best friends."
The second ace came on the 10th hole when he hit a 9-iron from 105 yards to an elevated green. This time, no one could see where his ball ended up. According to Byrne, after a few moments of searching, Shaughnessy checked the hole, laughed, and calmly said, "It's in the cup," sending the rest of the group into pandemonium.
Sweet shorts, by the way.
According to Golf Digest, the odds of an average amateur golfer making two holes-in-one in the same round are 162 million to 1. To put the rarity into even more perspective, it's only happened three times in PGA Tour history with Brian Harman pulling it off most recently at last year's Barclays.
But neither ball will be hanging on Shaughnessy's wall at home. Why? Because he lost both of them with his ensuing tee shots on the sixth and 11th holes. He also said "the rest of the round was so painful" he didn't keep an 18-hole score. Again, we're talking about a "high handicapper" here.
"All the while we are talking about the odds of two aces in the same round and I joke that I would like to see the odds and statistics of hitting two aces in the same round and losing both balls," Shaughnessy said.
Yeah, you might be alone in that one. Usually people take special golf balls out of play. . .
After the round, Shaughnessy said the group had a celebratory drink at the clubhouse. But since it was still before noon and everyone had busy days ahead, there was no extended party.
"I got off easy with the bar tab!"