A 1-in-67 million golf shot? No problem for teenager, who scores two aces in 20 minutes

APPLETON, Wisconsin – Drew Rudolf has one heck of a story to tell on the first day of school about how he spent his summer vacation.

The 16-year-old Appleton North junior got a hole-in-one at Butte des Morts Country Club last Friday afternoon.

Then he got another hole-in-one two holes later. That’s two aces in a span of about 20 minutes.

The odds of hitting two holes-in-one in the same round are roughly 1 in 67 million, according to the National Hole in One Registry.

“After the first one he just sent me a text and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s great, that’s awesome,’" said his father Mike, a longtime member at Butte des Morts. “He’s a gifted golfer, so he hits shots close a lot. So not that it was shocking, but surprising.”

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What was shocking was the phone call Mike got shortly after that first text.

“He called me 20 minutes later and he said, ‘Guess what happened?’ And I said, ‘Don’t even tell me you had another hole-in-one on 7.’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ You could hear the excitement in his voice,” Mike said.

“About a minute after that I got a call from someone. He said, ‘You don’t know me, but I just witnessed your 16-year-old son have back-to-back hole-in-ones.’ He was in the group right behind (Drew). … He’s like, ‘It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.’"

Drew, who was playing with friend Dane Heindel, aced the 167-yard fifth hole using an 8-iron.

“The first one landed like 3 feet short and bounced right in,” he said.

Two holes later, he used a 6-iron to ace the 196-yard seventh hole.

“Second one landed about 5 feet short and bounced right in too,” he said.

Drew didn’t have the foresight to ask Dane to record the tee shot on No. 7 just in case, you know, he was about to overcome incredible odds and get another ace.

“He didn’t get it on video but he’s like, ‘If you make this again, I’m going to go crazy,’" Drew said.

And make it he did.

“When the second one went in, we were just shocked. We didn’t believe it that they both went in,” Drew said. “I just dropped my club and put my hands on my head.”

Drew, who finished ninth at the WIAA Division 1 De Pere regional and 19th at the West De Pere sectional last spring playing for the Lightning, plays about six times a week at Butte des Morts. He played nine holes Friday and shot 6-under 29, aided by getting to write a “1” on his card twice.

He said these were his first two aces, although his dad was quick to point out that’s not entirely true.

“He had one when he was 9. He just doesn’t count it now because it was off the junior tees. But he was 9 years old. I still count it as a hole-in-one. It was a 1,” Mike said.

Tony Searl, the head golf professional at Butte des Morts for the past five years, said reaction at the course was “electric” once word of the two aces started to get out.

Searl said two years ago there were zero aces recorded at Butte des Morts the entire season, then last year there were eight or nine. There have been three aces this year, with Drew accounting for two of them.

There are only three players in the history of the PGA Tour to record two holes-in-one in the same round: Bill Whedon at the 1955 Insurance City Open, Yusaku Miyazato at the 2006 Reno-Tahoe Open and Brian Harman at the 2015 The Barclays.

Mike Rudolf, who got his first hole-in-one last year, said he still has a hard time grasping his son’s accomplishment.

“To be honest, I woke up early the next day just thinking, ‘Holy cow, he had two hole-in-ones in three holes.’ It was somewhat unbelievable. It’s hard to fathom that can happen,” Mike said. “Obviously the skill involved but the luck involved also. It’s a weird thing. A story that you’ll remember the rest of your life and a story you can tell. Hopefully it’s just one of many stories in his golf career.”

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Wisconsin teenager scores two holes-in-one in a span of 20 minutes