Hole In One Appeal

When women's golf coach Michael Bond called Tuesday afternoon to tell me about the holes in one scored by UCO players and sisters Erica and Lindsey Bensch that day at KickingBird Golf Club I thought it was a pretty cool feat and hung up.

And then I started to think about it.

I mean, what are the odds? A quick google search let me know that the odds of a professional golfer making a hole in one are 3,000 to 1 and for an amateur it's 12,750 to 1. But what about two sisters doing it on the same day on the same course? How astronomical could those odds possibly be?

How about 15 million to 1! That's 15 with six zeros -- 15,000,000 -- to 1. Run those numbers around your head for a while.

It's really a pretty amazing story. Junior Erica aces the third hole at KickingBird and freshman Lindsey equals it less than two hours later on No. 11. Neither sister got to see the other one's unique accomplishment, but they were close enough to hear the ruckus and celebration that followed.

Great stuff. And with far-reaching appeal.

A story was sent out to numerous local, state and regional media outlets Tuesday afternoon, which was soon distributed nationally by the Oklahoma City Associate Press Office. The result? Newspapers and online publications from Connecticut to California to Florida to Washington and all places in between ran the story.

And Taiwan. Yes, that Taiwan. Oh, and Australia.

UCO head coach Michael Bond received calls from ESPN and a television station in San Francisco asking if he had any video. The AP Broadcast Center in Washington, D.C. wants to have the Bensch sisters on their radio show. Yes, I would say this unique story piqued the interest of people virtually around the world.

I played golf for 30 years before making my first and only ace a couple of years ago. My 84-year-old uncle waited 60 years before getting his lone hole in one. I know plenty of people who have played for years and years without making one.

Yet in the span of two hours on a fall afternoon in Edmond, Oklahoma, two sisters did what every golfer dreams of. Unbelievable.