Golfers defy 17 million-to-one odds with back-to-back holes in one

Two golfing friends have defied odds of 17 million to one by achieving the sport’s holy grail of a hole in one in consecutive shots.

Steve Wilmhurst, who is 58, and his 70-year-old playing partner Liam Nairn achieved the extraordinary feat on Monday while playing the 16th hole at the Studley Wood Golf Club in Oxfordshire.

Wilmhurst and Nairn were playing as part of a foursome and the National Hole-In-One Registry quotes the odds of two players achieving that feat on the same hole as 17 million to 1. An individual player is quoted at 12,000 to one to make a hole in one.

The par-three 16th at Studley Wood is 167 yards long and it was Nairn who went first to register what was his first ever hole in one.

“I was absolutely elated because it was such a rare thing for that kind of thing to happen to me, so I was over the moon,” he told the BBC. “I said to myself: ‘I’ve got a hole in one — unbelievable’. We were all jumping for joy and getting high fives, so [it was] a really, really happy occasion.”

Lightning struck twice

Wilmhurst had previously achieved a hole in one some two decades ago and was the next to tee off. “We all watched Liam’s ball go on to the green, then up in the hole,” he said.

“It hit the pin on the way in so we heard the ball go in as well, and then about 30 seconds later I took my shot and it disappeared, so I walked down to the green thinking I’ve missed and put it in the bunker.

“When Liam went to get his ball out of the hole I didn’t believe him when he said: ‘Oh, yours is in here as well.’ I thought he was joking. I had to check it wasn’t April 1.”

The two friends play golf together up to four times a week and both bought drinks that afternoon for everyone else in the club bar.

“The odds decrease with the amount we’ve played — but it’s a wonderful thing — it doesn’t happen very often,” said Wilmhurst.

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