The Whiteners, who hit hole-in-ones on the same hole.
Photo: Houston Chronicle
Lonnie Whitener has played plenty of rounds of golf over the years, some of them on Father’s Day. He’s also played plenty of rounds alongside his son, 13-year-old Zach Whitener.
By sheer availability, those two sets of circumstances haven’t coincided too often, but they did on Sunday, when the Whiteners decided to celebrate Dad’s day on the golf course. What resulted was sheer magic.
As reported by the Houston Chronicle, Associated Press and a handful of other outlets, both Whiteners recorded hole-in-ones in the same round, on the same hole at River Pointe Golf Club in Richmond, Texas.
The pair chose to play at that course simply because Zach Whitener likes to see alligators that sometimes slink near the course, just on the edge of view.
“It’s probably going to be the most memorable thing we accomplish together,” Lonnie Whitener told the Chronicle. “I just hope we have a lot more good things to come. It’s one of the coolest things you could ever do.”
One of the coolest things, and rarest things statistically. The Chronicle consulted with the National Hole in One Registry, which attempts tracks all aces nationwide, and learned that the odds of two players in any one foursome hitting a hole-in-one on the same hole during the same round are approximately 1 in 17 million.
What makes those odds appear even longer are the Whiteners’ relative lack of golf acumen.
The elder Whitemen began golfing 13 years ago and aims to play once a week but still holds a handicap in the 15 to 20-stroke range. His son plays only once a month.
That was all but irrelevant to former University of Texas golfer Lance Lopez, now a PGA of America golf professional, who witnessed both hole in ones go in on top of each other.
“We were speechless,” Lopez said. “It was like, ‘Did that really just happen?’” – Cameron Smith
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