Posted on: Thursday, April 15, 2004
Golfer pulls off 3 straight eagles in same round
By Ron Green Jr.
Knight Ridder News Services
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bennie Shaw Jr. might have had a better Sunday than Phil Mickelson at the Masters.
Playing Fort Mill (S.C.) Golf Club, Shaw pulled off a rarity: he made three consecutive eagles, including a hole in one.
"I think I had a little better Sunday than Phil, but I didn't win as much money," said Shaw, 55, a maintenance supervisor at Leroy Springs Company.
To give Shaw's feat some perspective, consider that in the past 23 years on the PGA Tour, only 13 times have players had three eagles for a round, but none were made in succession.
Sunday morning, Shaw was playing in his usual group, knowing he would spend the afternoon watching the Masters on television.
When he was 3-under par through seven holes, he said he felt good about his play and thought about equaling his career-best score of 65. Then the fireworks began.
At the 340-yard, par-4 eighth hole, Shaw hit a 3-wood tee shot and then holed an 80-yard sand wedge for his first eagle.
"I remembered I had eagled No. 9 on Saturday and I was wondering what was going to happen (Sunday)," Shaw said.
On the par-5 ninth, he hit a driver and 7-wood onto the green about 30 feet from the hole. When the putt fell in, Shaw had turned the front nine in 7-under-par 29, his best nine-hole score by two strokes.
"I was sort of buzzing about then, but I wasn't in shock," he said.
Standing on the 10th hole, he heard his buddies behind him determining who had won what from whom on the front nine. Shaw hit an 8-iron on the downhill, 152-yard par-3 and, "Dang if it didn't go in."
Not that anyone else in his group saw it. A player from another group saw the ace, but his playing partners missed it.
"I said, 'Gee whiz, fellas. Here I go and make a one and y'all are arguing about the scorecard and who won what,' " Shaw said. "One of the guys in our group said I was crazy. It didn't go in."
Shaw got to 10-under par before three-putting the 17th hole for a bogey that left him with a career-best 63.
