Sport
21 December, 2023
Hole-in-one during end of year break-up
There was a hole-in-one for Ingrid Emanuel and a very tight finish to the competition as the Woodford Golf Club staged its Christmas Day break-up event on Saturday, December 9.
Most of the 188 participants were Woodford members while the 4-person Ambrose event was extremely tight as the winners had 54.50 points, followed by the runners-up with 54.75 and the third placegetters with 54.875.
The winning team comprised Graham Bleakley, Pat McAtee, Rohan Briggs and Nicholas Anderson, with Graham sinking many putts throughout the day.
Pat later said he had “never seen anyone putt that good”.
“We started calling him ‘the putting guru’,” Pat said.
Nine eagles were recorded in addition to Ingrid’s hole-in-one, and there were also some so-called ‘fun activities’ involving mini putters and mini drivers.
In some instances, golfers needed to play a shot with their non-preferred hand.
Ingrid, meanwhile, achieved the hole-in-one feat for the fifth time in her golfing history while it was the third time she achieved it on the 17th hole at Woodford.
One of the other occasions was also at Woodford, after the first occasion was nearly 20 years ago when she played in the Victorian town of Yarrawonga.
After Ingrid’s playing partners sprayed the ball wide of the green on the 17th hole during the Christmas Day break-up, she had a few quiet words to say to the ball whilst placing it on its tee in the lead-up to her noteworthy feat.
“I said ‘please get on the green’,” she said.
“I used a 6-iron which is big for that hole.
“I hit the ball well, with a nice draw, (unusual for me) onto the green, and all of a sudden it disappeared.
“My playing partners said ‘I think it went in’, but I thought it might have gone over the back, being obscured by the pin.
“We got to the green and it was there.” Ingrid said it felt “unbelievable”, and that “I thought it must be because I spoke nicely to the ball on the tee”.
Ingrid said most of the times she landed a hole-in-one it was “pure luck”, as the rare feat wasn’t something she thought could be planned or intended.
Having seen the ball go into the hole on two of the occasions that she landed a hole-in-one, Ingrid said achieving the feat was always special while the novelty wouldn’t wear off.
With her husband Keith having landed a hole-in-one six times, Ingrid quipped that she was “catching up”.
Ingrid said her latest hole-in-one was “the icing on the cake” this year after her titles this year included Mixed champion (alongside her husband), Ladies Foursomes champion, Ladies champion and Ladies Matchplay champion.
