MyTURN
by JIM DUCIBELLA
Robertson’s Rare Aces
Mark Ones to Remember
40
In early February, Green, an Australian
professional, scored a hole-in-one—on a
par 4 no less—when his tee shot took a hard
bounce left into a bunker, hit “something”
then took an equally pronounced ricochet
right out of the sand and raced into the hole.
Former PGA Tour member Magee made
the first ace on a par 4 in tour history in 2001
at TPC Scottsdale when his drive on the
332-yard, par-4 17th first missed hitting Steve
Pate and Gary Nicklaus, who were part of
the group of three on the green. T Byrum
om
had just retrieved his ball from the hole and
was starting to walk away when Magee’s shot
bounced between Byrum’s legs, clanked off his
putter and took a dive 8 feet later into the hole.
Robertson received an email from ESPN
informing her that a husband and wife,
playing in separate groups, recently scored
aces on the same hole. No word from them
of others who’ve made two in 18 holes.
That signifies the rarified, Ripley-like
world Robertson, the 2006 VSGA Women’s
Amateur champion, just joined.
The pater familias of this exclusive
community is Gus Andreone. He is the
oldest member of the PGA of America at
103, comfortably above the age demographic
for hole-in-oners, 60 percent of which are
50 or older. In December 2014, Andreone
scored an ace at the Palm Aire Country Club
in Sarasota, Fla. Not surprisingly, that likely
makes him the oldest man or woman ever
to do so, though not by as wide a margin as
you’d think. The previous record-holder
was a 102-year-old woman.
Other new neighbors include Lonnie and
Zach Whitener, father and son. Playing on
Father’s Day, 57-year-old Lonnie aced a
115-yard hole at River Pointe Golf Club
in Richmond, Texas, using a gap wedge.
Moments later, 13-year-old Zach knocked
in a 6-iron tee shot on the same hole.
Then there are British amateurs Bob
Wood and Jeff Roberts, the former 75 and
the other 60. Playing against two other
players in a four-ball match, both of them
aced the same par-3 hole seconds apart.
“We were gobsmacked,” one of their
opponents’ said.
V IRGINIA G OLFER | M ARCH/A PRIL 2015
40_VSGA_MarApr15.indd 40
Virginia Tech head women’s golf coach Carol
Robertson accounted for two aces in a three-hole
span during a round in March.
That’s British for astonished.
Which brings us to Robertson’s favorite
hole-in-one story. It involves a match
between she and her dad, former VSGA
president Charlie Green, a strong amateur
player in his own right and a past VSGA
Senior Amateur champion.
They were playing from the same tees at a
golf course called Fincastle on the Mountain
in Bluefield, Va., and Robertson was ahead by
two strokes on the second nine.
“It was going to be the first time I beat him
playing from the same tees,” she recalls. “Then
we got to hole 14.”
Charlie, hitting first, rifled a shot toward
the flagstick, telling his daughter, “Watch this.”
“Sure enough, it went in,” Robertson
remembers. “He picked up two strokes on
me, and we tied.”
That must have been a gobsmacking
moment. Now Robertson has one to call
her own.
Columnist Jim Ducibella retired in 2008
after 27 years at The Virginian-Pilot in
Norfolk. A 2010 inductee into the Virginia
Sports Hall of Fame, his second book, King of
Clubs: The Great Golf Marathon of 1938,
is available in bookstores or by ordering online.
TOP: THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT; FILE PHOTO
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