Amateur golfer bags two holes-in-one

AN amateur golfer spoke of his shock yesterday at scoring two holes-in-one in a single round.

Doug Hazell, 23, was competing in a tournament at Caerphilly Golf Club, South Wales, when he attained the double feat over the course of eight holes.

Mr Hazell, who only took up the sport a year ago and has a handicap of 18, had never scored a hole-in-one before — and now doubts he will ever do so again.

Mr Hazell, a production planner, of Caerphilly, said: “When I hit the first one, I was quite astonished I had done it. I thought I’d be one of those players who never got a hole-in-one.

“For the second one, I was playing with two others. We all hit the green, but when we got down there we could only see two balls.

“One guy said ‘Check the hole,’ as a joke, and when he had a look he did a double take. I couldn’t believe it when I realised it was my ball.”

Mr Hazell said he believes he beat odds of 67 million to one, and that only a handful of people across the world have done so before.

He added: “It was really nice, a really good feeling.

“Afterwards I went back to the club house and bought a bottle of whisky and put it on the bar, as it’s traditional to buy drinks after getting a hole-in-one.”

Despite his success, Mr Hazell did not win the tournament’s Nightingales.

The holes Mr Hazell scored at were both par three. He used a nine-iron for the 115-yard hole seven, and a pitching wedge for the 111-yard hole 14.