New Zealander sinks two aces in an hour
A New Zealand retiree has hit two holes-in-one in a single round of golf, although he still grumbled about finishing on a "pretty poor" 14 over par.
Val Sills, 74, sank his first ace on the fifth hole at the Northern Wairoa course on Saturday, following up less than an hour later with another on the ninth.
Club vice-president Robert Nathan confirmed the feat, saying the double sent Sills' fellow golfers at the tiny North Island course into raptures.
"There was an almighty roar when we realised what he'd done," Nathan told AFP. "After the second I looked over at Val and he was just standing there holding his club, dumbfounded."
Amazingly, it was Sills' third hole-in-one at the course. He hit another on the ninth hole about a decade ago.
However, the retired dairy farmer was underwhelmed by his achievement, telling the New Zealand Herald that aces were merely "a fluke of chance".
"I always think of it as luck, not good golf," he told the newspaper. "They (fellow players) were more excited about it than I was."
Sills, a member of the club for more than 60 years, was more concerned about ending the day with a score 86 on the 72-par course.
It wasn't a very good round altogether, I think it was pretty obvious right from the start that I wasn't concentrating very well," he said.