Frank Bensel Jr stated it was “the rarest thing you could ever do” after hitting back-to-back hole in ones during the second round of the U.S. Senior Open.
The 56-year-old club professional sunk his first ace on the 184-yard fourth and in extraordinary fashion backed it up with another ace immediately afterwards on the 203-yard fifth at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island.
“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 Jr said.
“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.”
The American is the first player to hit consecutive aces in a professional competition since Englishman John Hudson did so at the European Tour’s Martini International at Royal Norwich in 1971.
According to The National Hole-in-One Registry, the odds of carding two aces in the same round are 67 million to one. The Registry however does not provide the odds for back-to-back holes.
The United States Golf Association (USGA) shared an image on X (formerly Twitter) praising his achievement.
