Moyola Park golfers defy the odds with back-to-back holes-in-one
Julie McKee and Mandy Higgins were playing together with their partners in a greensomes competition at Moyola Park near Castledawson, Derry, when they hit consecutive holes-in-one on the fourth hole.
The odds of this happening are believed to be one million to one.
Julie (below, right) took up golf three years ago.
She said: “The 4th hole is a 129-yard, par 4 with bunkers on each side. I went first and I actually thought I was heading for the bunker on the left. But I was lucky and it kicked right on the green and toppled off into the hole.
“I couldn’t believe it. The other three were shouting, ‘it’s in the hole, it’s in the hole!’ So I went down there to have to a look and sure enough it was wedged in there.
“I was just jumping up and down in disbelief and when I looked back at the tee I could see the other three jumping up and down as well.”
Mandy hit her drive minutes after. She said: “I was so proud of Julie and I just thought ‘how on earth am I going to top that?’ We were all laughing about it. So I just stood up and hit the ball and I have to say it was the sweetest shot I’ve ever hit in my life; I couldn’t even feel it when I hit the ball. I was like: ‘oh it’s over the bunker, it’s on the green, oh my god it’s in the hole!’ It was just so exciting.”
Neither of the ladies had ever hit a hole-in-one before.
Julie said: “As I watched Mandy’s ball roll down towards the hole I just couldn’t believe that it was happening again. We all went crazy! We were like ‘how do we carry on after that? So it all just went to pieces a bit and we didn’t win the competition. But we had to buy all the drinks in the bar afterwards!”
“People are saying that the odds of doing that were a million to one or something crazy. Getting my first hole-in-one with Mandy has just made it ten times more special.
“It’s been a great year so far actually. I was playing Royal Belfast with my team the other week and we bumped into Rory McIlroy. He was really lovely. Maybe his golfing skills rubbed off on me somehow.”
The event has given the pair and the club a lot of attention, with Belfast Live, the Irish Independent and the Mirror all covering the story.
Mandy says: “The story was on the was on the front page of the Mirror and they did a whole spread on it, I didn’t expect that. We just thought the club would acknowledge it and that would be it. But I don’t know if two other women have ever done it before. I’ve tried Googling it and I’ve found two men who’ve managed it but I couldn’t find any women at all.”
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