On my ESPN 99.1 FM Radio appearance from Tuesday of U.S. Open week, I picked “Yes” for there being a hole-in-one this week at Merion. Considering there were zero heading into Sunday, and there was only one par 3 under 210 yards on Sunday (and only one under 235 the other three days), I figured my chances were pretty much shot.
Then Shawn Stefani came along. The tees on the brutally difficult par 3 17th had been moved up on Sunday to “only” play 213 yards, where Stefani chose a 4-iron for his tee shot. The result was a pulled shot that caromed off a bank in the left rough and slowly rolled all the way across the green and into the cup for one of the coolest hole-in-ones you’ll ever see (although playing partner Kyle Stanley had a less than exuberant celebration for Shawn for some reason- maybe it was the fact that he was about to shoot 85-78 on the weekend to finish DFL).
It was not only the first ace of the week, but the first ever hole-in-one at any U.S. Open at Merion (five time host). Check out the video below, pretty awesome stuff.
Joel Harrington
@joel4deepgolf
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