Lexington-area Realtor’s hole-in-one proves extra special ... and super rare
Brent Lee, a sometimes-golfer, experienced one of those I-should-have-played-the lottery days a couple of Mondays ago.
A Realtor with Coldwell Banker in the Lexington-Lake Murray area, Lee signed on to play in the Faith United Methodist Church’s fund-raiser at Golden Hills Golf and Country Club. He also put up the cash to sponsor a hole.
Rather than playing with great expectations of golfing excellence, he made the commitments to honor of a friend’s father, a church member in whose memory the tournament was dedicated.
Then, lottery moment No. 1: Lee made a hole-in-one on Golden Hill’s 17th hole.
And — wouldn’t you know it? — lottery moment No. 2: His ace came on the hole he sponsored.
“What are the odds?” retired professional and Faith UMC member Bobby Howard wondered. “Making a hole-in-one is amazing, and to do it on ‘his’ hole is really amazing.”
Various websites place the odds of an average golfer making a hole-in-one in the neighborhood of 12,500-to-1. Recording a “1” on a sponsored hole might be off the charts.
“A wild and crazy day,” Lee said in reflecting on the events of Sept. 14. “With the tournament in memory of my buddy’s dad, I went out to compete, but I never imagined anything like what happened.”
Lee and his group began on the 12th hole in the shotgun start, making the 17th their sixth of the round. Even before he hit the shot that defied all odds, he called the hole his favorite at Golden Hills.
The 17th is a photographer’s dream — par-3 over water with the green framed by azaleas.
“A really pretty scene when the azaleas are in bloom around Masters time,” Golden Hills pro Steve Larick said.
Lee chose an 8-iron to tackle No. 17, which played at 134 yards that day. A lefty, he hit a fade — or, he joked, “maybe a slice” — that landed a couple of feet behind the pin and spun back into the cup.
Sounds like a shot a pro would hit, right?
“I’m not a pro,” Lee said and laughed again. “I don’t play that much. I have played a little more during the coronavirus, but I generally score somewhere in the 90s. That’s the first tournament I’ve played in, and I did it for my buddy.”
In this day and age of social media, word traveled fast. Well, Lee sent only one text, but his team made sure the hole-in-one did not remain a secret.
“They might have been more excited that I was,” he said. “I told them, ‘Hey, we’ve got 12 more holes to play.’”
Larick called Lee’s ace “awesome” and remembered one other hole-in-one at Golden Hills during a charity tournament.
“Several years ago on the par-3 13th,” the pro said. “The guy won a car from Herndon Chevrolet.”
Lee didn’t reap such a reward. “If a car had been there, I’d probably broken the windshield” with the shot, he said.
But Lee created a memory for a lifetime. That the big moment came “at a time we went out to have fun and to honor the memory of my buddy’s dad really enhances everything,” he said. “That’s what’s important.”
“He’ll never forget the hole-in-one, and making it on the hole he sponsored is really amazing,” said Howard, a member of the Carolinas PGA’s Hall of Fame. “I’m 89 and played a lot of golf and made only one hole-in-one. And I still remember: a 7-iron on No. 7 at old Pine Forest.”
Shots like those — Lee’s the other day and Howard’s many years ago — are forever.
Chip shots. Nathan Franks (Roebuck) captured the CGA’s Creed Junior Boys’ Invitational at Camden CC by one stroke. Andrew Swanson (Bluffton) and Max Green (Hilton Head Island) finished in a four-way tie for second. ... Pam Prescott (Piedmont) won the CGA’s Carolinas Senior Women’s Amateur at Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Oak Point Course. Jayne Pardue (Mount Pleasant) finished one shot behind. Karin Wolfe (Lexington) dominated the Carolinas Division and also captured the Super Senior title. ... USC’s men’s and women’s teams open their coronavirus-impacted fall schedules on Oct. 5 in the Blessing Collegiate Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The course hosted the 2019 national championship tournaments.