‘Best day of golf in my life': D3 golfer aces same hole twice in same day

Think one hole-in-one is impressive? Try two holes-in-one, on the same day, on the same hole.

That’s exactly what Sewanee sophomore Niel Phillips did Monday at the Chick-Fil-A Invitational in Rome, Georgia.

“It was something else, that’s for sure,” Phillips told Golf Channel on Monday evening via phone. “Two good swings, and some good luck.”

With the tournament’s 36-hole day requiring back-to-back shotgun starts, Phillips, a New Orleans native competing on the Tigers’ B-team, began his first round on Stonebridge Country Club’s par-3 eighth hole and holed a 6-iron from 182 yards for the first ace.

“It was 8:30 in the morning, first swing of the day, cold, wet, so it was probably more like a 195 shot,” Phillips said. “And I just flushed it.”

Phillips followed by playing his next four holes in a combined 5 over, but birdies on Nos. 15-17 and a slew of pars allowed him to polish off an even-par 72.

Then Phillips headed back to No. 8 to start his second round. With the hole locations remaining the same, Phillips took one less club, a 7-iron, and again jarred his tee shot.

“He was going pretty crazy,” Sewanee head coach Keenan Hickton said. “The first one we were pretty sure it went in. And then the second one, it was the same shot, dead straight and never left the flag, but the sun was a little different so we weren’t sure it went in, and I think we were both just in disbelief that it wouldn’t be possible. But when we walked up there, the closer we got, we saw a ball mark about 4 feet short and you could see nothing on the green anywhere else.

“I don’t know how he played golf for the next five or six holes because everyone in the group was just like in shock.”

Added Phillips: “I was in disbelief, like there’s no way that can happen.”

It’s believed to be the first time that any college player, at any level, has aced the same hole in back-to-back rounds on the same day.

For Phillips, the holes-in-one were Nos. 2 and 3 of his career; hsi first one came from 121 yards in a Kelly Gibson Junior Tour event when he was 13 years old.

Phillips ended the day at 1 under following his second-round 71, which also included four birdies in a five-hole stretch from Nos. 2-6. Phillips, who has carded every score up to ‘7' through 36 holes, enters Tuesday’s final round in solo ninth, four shots off the lead.

“It was a very up-and-down day, and I played very average otherwise, so it’s hard to put this above some tournament wins that I’ve had in high school,” Phillips said. “But so far in college, this is No. 1 – and maybe, forget about tournament, this might be the best day of golf in my life. Can’t beat two holes-in-one on the same hole on the same day, and the first swing of the day. Crazy.”

This is Phillips’ third start of the fall. He finished 82nd out of 96 players at Sewanee’s fall opener, the Gate City Invitational (Phillips recorded two eagles during that event), and he most recently placed last in the 87-man Tartan Invitational, though that was because he withdrew during his second round with a stomach bug. He is ranked No. 831 by Scoreboard while Sewanee is fifth nationally as a team.

“That’ll change pretty quickly,” Phillips said of his ranking.

Asked how Phillips’ rare achievement will be commemorated, Hickton had already started to brainstorm, though he did make one admission: Phillips had already lost one of the balls, depositing the first hole-in-one ball in the water on the very next hole.

“People don’t have to know that – it was the same ball, same ball,” Phillips quipped. “But no, the next three holes after that are just absolute water-ball holes, and I didn’t escape them very well. I think I was a little distracted. I probably should’ve kept it and put it in the bag, but it’s your lucky ball, right, you gotta keep playing with the lucky ball, maybe you’ll make another one – and I did.”