HAMPSHIRE player Darren Walkely earned himself a £1,000 bonus for finishing closest to the pin in the HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour’s Ablrate.com Shoot-Out at Cumberwell Park Golf Club on Tuesday - but the real drama came after the conclusion of the event.
After Walkley had clinched the prize, Sky Sports' former PGA and European Tour professional John E Morgan, who had been co-presenting the coverage of the event on Facebook Live, decided to have a crack at the 170-yard challenge.
JOHN MORGAN ACE: After the £100,000 @Ablrate Shoot-Out @CumberwellPark, @jemorgan77 decided to try his luck - guess what happened next. pic.twitter.com/h45P6YuWnI
— PGA EuroPro Tour (@PGAEuroProTour) June 28, 2017
And while nine of the 26 players taking part in the actual event managed an ace, Morgan's beautifully-struck effort found the bottom of the cup.
Morgan, who will appear on Sky Sports coverage of the EuroPro Tour event at Cumberwell Park, celebrated by taking a dip in the lake surrounding the island-green eighth hole on Cumberwell's par-three course.
With a £100,000 jackpot to make a hole in one from 170 yards on Cumberwell Park’s new par-three course, none of the 26 players who qualified to take a shot managed an ace.
Walkely (Hayling Golf Club) was the closest, by half an inch, to win the £1,000 cash prize ahead of Andrew Cheese (Sutton Coldfield Golf Club), who fired to within 4ft 10 inches of the flag.
“It’s nice to win £1,000,” said Walkely. “We were all clubbing off one another. I had wedge ready but I changed two shots before my turn to take a little nine iron to try and fade it in there.
“It would have been nice to get the £100,000 – when the crowd was getting louder and louder I thought ‘it’s going to be close’. It’s always nice to get some money back and I’ll probably put it towards my costs this season.”
The Shoot-Out preceded the three-day EuroPro Tour GRENKE Championship at Cumberwell Park, which got under way on Wednesday.
MORE COVERAGE FROM THE GRENKE CHAMPIONSHIP AT CUMBERWELL PARK THIS WEEK AT WILTSHIRETIMES.CO.UK/SPORT AND IN THIS WEEK'S WILTSHIRE TIMES
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