Ranking Golf's Best Aces, From Tiger to Freddie to a Vegas Winner
All aces are not created equal. But it’s not like you’re going to be picky about it if you get one.
Golf course designer Gil Hanse scored a rare kind of ace last week near Palm Springs, Calif. It happened on a course he designed, the exclusive Ladera Golf Club. His ace was rare because the course hasn’t officially opened yet and his group of high-rollers was playing it for the first time. It was also Hanse’s first hole-in-one somewhere other than a par-3 course.
Making a hole-in-one is the Holy Grail for most amateur golfers, who know they’re never going to break par or 80 or maybe even 90. But an ace just takes one lucky shot.
Even The Ranking’s czar has made seven of them, including one on a 5-iron shot that missed a green right and caromed back onto the green while the surprised club manager barely had time to splutter, “Hey, that could …” Yeah, it went in! A missed-green hole-in-one is also on the rare side.
Even a 6-year-old can make an ace. Tiger Woods had one at that age. (What hasn’t he done?)
Every ace is special to someone. Hanse’s deserves a special mention. Here are the most memorable aces in the annals (with two n’s, pay attention, please!) of professional golf (and no, those guys skipping shots across the pond at the 16th hole in Masters practice rounds don’t count here) …
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It was 1962. TV was served on three channels. Ads commonly featured toothpaste, headache pills, gasoline and cigarettes. Those were Medieval times. But Jerry Barber made a hole-in-one during the 1962 Buick Open’s final round on the 222-yard 17th hole. It was the first televised ace, now a forgotten bit of trivia.
Come to the dark side, Luke …
It was practically nightfall by the time Jonathan Byrd won the 2010 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Well, of course it was by the time anyone got done saying the tournament’s full name. Officials and players debated continuing a playoff because it was so dark but hey, the 17th was only a par 3 over water. Go ahead and play a fourth extra hole. Byrd made the ace to beat Martin Laird and Cameron Percy. It was so dim that Byrd asked his caddie if his shot on the 204-yard hole actually went in the cup, he couldn’t see it. The answer was, Yessss! What a way to win a PGA Tour title.
Can I get a car without the golf spike marks on the hood please?
Rich Beem knocked in a hole-in-one at the 14th hole at Riviera in the 2007 Nissan Open. When he realized that meant he won the car parked behind the tee, he ran over, jumped on it and climbed onto its roof and gave it a hug. Avid golf fans still remember his excitement. Maybe because Nissan used the moment in a commercial.
Sorry, Coach, I’ve got a million reasons to turn pro
In 1992, 19-year-old Jason Bohn played on the University of Alabama golf team. He’d qualified for a fundraiser tournament’s million-dollar hole in one shootout. Bohn faded a 9-iron shot that found the hole, then sprinted down a hillside all the way to the green, where he did a bellyflop of sorts. He turned pro so he could accept the money, which he used to fund his efforts to make the PGA Tour. It paid off, he won more than $16 million.
Ben there, missed that
Claude Harmon made Masters history in 1947 when he became the first participant to ace the famed 12th hole. Harmon, then a club professional from Winged Foot, earned more fame from the ace because of the mythical story that went with it. He was paired with golf legend Ben Hogan, who made a birdie. Coming off the green, Hogan reportedly said, “You know, Claude, I can’t remember the last time I made a 2 there! What did you make?”
Hogan: “Oh, well, that’s great, Claude.”
Sir, you forgot your red cape!
It was just another Tuesday practice round at the TPC at Avenel in 1986. Then Arnold Palmer aced the par-3 3rd hole. It was a big deal, obviously, because it was Arnie.
The next day, Palmer, 56, aced the same hole in the pro-am. It was no short-iron shot, either—it played 187 yards and Palmer hit a 5-iron on Tuesday that landed 15 feet short of the hole and rolled in. He was believed to be the first American pro golfer to pull off back-to-back aces on the same hole.
Quipped fellow player Chi Chi Rodriguez, “I thought Arnie walked on water before this. Now I know he does. You could give Clark Kent 10 balls and he couldn't do that.”
Ode to Billy Joe—not the one from Choctaw Ridge
One of the most famous charges in Masters history was amateur Billy Joe Patton’s in 1954. Patton was a gamer and the galleries quickly got behind the underdog, a 31-year-old lumber salesman. Part of Patton’s Sunday run was fueled by an electrifying hole-in-one at the downhill par-3 6th hole. Patton missed a playoff by one stroke, done in by visiting Rae’s Creek at 13 and 15.
One of a kind
Only one player in Masters history has ever aced the par-3 4th hole. Meet the greatest player of all time … Jeff Sluman.
The former PGA Championship winner pulled off the feat in 1992, a 213-yard shot to a back-left pin. He hit a 4-iron that landed on the front of the green and rolled in like a putt. Besides being Masters history, it was remarkable that his mother, Doreen, was watching from near the green. She greeted him on his way to the 5th tee and excitedly told him she wanted that ball as a souvenir, saying, “Give it to me now!” She passed away two years later and the hole-in-one ball was buried with her.
If it didn’t make ESPN’s Top Ten Plays of the Day, did it really happen?
Remember that 18-year-old kid, a real prodigy, who aced the 8th hole in the British Open’s first round and went on to win it? That kid was good. In fact, it was his second Open title. He ended up winning four of them. But that ace he made at Prestwick in 1869 was the first known hole-in-one in the Open. The kid’s name? Tom (Young Tom) Morris Jr.
Special delivery
The Postage Stamp at Royal Troon, a par 3 of a mere 125 yards, is the greatest short hole in golf. Tiger Woods got into contention in the 2004 Open Championship with a third-round 64 but took a 6 at the Postage Stamp in the final round, ruining his chances. England’s Steven Bottomley did worse—he posted a 7 in the first round, a 10 in the second round.
Which makes Gene Sarazen’s ace in the 1973 Open that much more impressive. Sarazen was 71 when his 5-iron shot found the cup. He shot 79 and missed the cut but what an exit from his Open career. “The Postage Stamp haunted me for many years,” Sarazen said. “I feared it, so when I walked onto the tee and faced the wind, I admit I was somewhat nervous.”
Was it the greatest shot The Squire ever hit? Well, there was a little shot he hit at the Masters once that wasn’t bad …
A legendary ace
In 1987, The Skins Game was still a big-money, big-deal golf TV show played at PGA West Stadium Course. From an elevated tee to an island green, it was a daunting shot. But Lee Trevino knocked it in the hole and earned a carry-over skin worth $175,000, an outlandish amount of money then. This ace had it all. A legendary golfer, Trevino. A legendary witness. “When the ball was in the air, Jack (Nicklaus) said it was a pretty shot,” Trevino told TV viewers moments later. “Can’t get any prettier than that!” And a legendary announcer. Vin Scully called the shot for NBC.
A legendary ace, The Sequel
In a 2001 Par-3 Shootout at Treetops Resort in Gaylord, Mich., Trevino made another ace. This time, he won $1,090,000 for the shot, the richest-ever payout for a hole-in-one at the time. Trevino donated $500,000 of it to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
The Fred Ball Express
Is it possible to overshadow a hole-in-one at the famed Island Green 17th hole at TPC Stadium Course with a par? Fred Couples did it. In the 1997 Players Championship, he made an ace playing to the tough back right pin and celebrated with a raised arm and a big smile. Two years later, he came up short with his tee shot and splashed it in the water. He ignored the drop area and re-teed from the same spot, played again and holed the shot on the fly for an All-American 3. Was it a hole-in-one, a hole-in-three or just a crazy par? Never mind. Couples smirked and looked bemused. No golfer has ever been cooler.
Four aces beats, well, everything
The greatest golf spectating spot was arguably at the 160-yard par-3 6th hole at Oak Hill during the 1989 U.S. Open’s second round. Within a span of two hours, four aces were made by Doug Weaver, Mark Wiebe, Jerry Pate and Nick Price. They all hit 7-irons the spun back off a slope and went into the cup. “I think the neatest thing about it is that someone comes to the U.S. Open and says he’s going to sit on the 6th green—and you know someone did,” Wiebe said. “And that person got to watch not only one hole-in-one, but four in the U.S. Open. That’s unbelievable.”
The greatest ace
Only Tiger Woods has the power to make beer fly. That’s what happened at the 1997 Phoenix Open at the infamous 16th hole when Woods made the most famous ace in modern golf. He did it during the third round on Saturday, when the tournament draws its biggest crowd of the week—an estimated 120,000 that day.
First, playing partner Omar Uresti hit a shot to three feet, causing a huge cheer from the raucous gallery. Then Woods hit a soft 9-iron that landed, bounced twice and went into the cup.
The hole wasn’t totally surrounded by luxury suites then. A small hillside stood right of the tee and was full of eager fans. Also, a beer tent was nearby.
Woods high-fived his caddie, Mike (Fluff) Cowan, then missed a high-five with Uresti. As they left the tee, Woods gave the crowd the pump-it-up signal and in his wake, cups of beer and anything fans could find to toss were thrown in the air, adding to the feel of total bedlam.
Another piece of trivia: Steve Stricker aced the 16th hole the next day and won a car. Of the two aces, guess which one you can find video of?