An out-of-body experience – Club pro hits consecutive aces at US Senior Open
Frank Bensel (left) and his caddie and 14-year-old son, Hagen, pose with flags after Frank’s back-to-back holes-in-one in the US Senior Open (Jimmy Golen/AP) (AP)
Club professional Frank Bensel Jr admitted it was “like an out-of-body experience” to make back-to-back holes-in-one during the second round of the US Senior Open.
Bensel amazingly followed an ace on the 184-yard fourth hole with another on the 203-yard fifth at Newport Country Club.
According to the National Hole-in-One Registry, the odds of carding two aces in the same round are 67 million to one. It does not provide odds for consecutive holes.
“I’ve played a lot of golf in my life and just to see a hole-in-one in a tournament is pretty rare,” Bensel said after following his consecutive aces with four straight bogeys and carding three more on the back nine in a round of 74.
“The first one was great, so that got me under par for the day. And then the second one, I just couldn’t believe it. To even think that that could happen was amazing.
“Hit the ball kind of in the right place and then it just started rolling. I was kidding around and I was like, ‘Okay, now let’s go for another one’, and it happened to go in. Everybody just couldn’t believe it. We all went nuts.
“I’ve got a lot of family and friends here and they were all going crazy, and the guys I played with, same thing, they couldn’t believe it. It was amazing.
“This will be remembered obviously forever and ever. After these two holes-in-one, I just didn’t even know… it was like an out-of-body experience. I was more excited than I wanted to be.”
It is thought that the only other instance of a player making consecutive holes-in-one during a tournament occurred in even more remarkable circumstances during the 1971 Martini International at Royal Norwich.
John Hudson followed a hole-in-one at the 195-yard 11th with another ace at the par-four 12th, which measured 314 yards.
Hudson went on to finish tied ninth and earned £160 from the tournament’s total prize fund of £7,000.