florida men
Florida golfers sink back-to-back aces, second one called his shot too
John Nicholson (left) and George Rand
We have quite a few holes-in-one stories here, but very few (none) of them feature a golfer saying that he’s going to sink an ace … and then doing exactly that.
John Nicholson and George Rand were playing in a foursome at The Glades Golf & Country Club in Naples when the near-impossible happened on the 125-yard par-3 15. The 73-year-old Nicholson teed off third in the group and nailed an ace, despite losing sight of his drive.
“I couldn’t see the green, so I didn’t see it go in,” he said. “George got out his range finder and looked all over the green and said ‘I don’t see a ball. I’m going to congratulate you right now.’”
Following Nicholson, Rand decided to Babe Ruth it, calling his shot by asking Nicholson, “You’re not going to get mad at me if I put this right on top of your ball, will you?”
Well, it was a bold question, and then BANG.
“I was yelling all the way, ‘John, that’s going in the hole. It’s going right at it,’” Rand said. “And it just disappeared. We both jumped up, we couldn’t believe it happened. It’s pretty remarkable.”
It was the third hole-in-one for Rand, but his first at the Glades. Nicholson, whose previous hole-in-one came in 2011 on No. 16, said he had everyone in the group sign his ball as a memento.
The National Hole in One Registry puts the odds of consecutive aces by two different golfers on the same hole at 17 million to 1, but this is that one.
“It’s incredible,” Rand said. “I would much rather hit the lottery, but I’ll take the hole-in-one.”