A Worcestershire amateur golf was left with a hefty bar bill – but potentially in golf’s record books – after recording a hole-in-one at a 411-yard par four.
The miraculous ace was achieved last month by 32-year-old Matt Vigurs while competing in a scratch match at Great Barr Golf Club in Birmingham for his home club, Droitwich GC.
Vigurs, a +1 handicap and Worcestershire 1st Team player, has been enjoying a remarkable run of form. Having only returned to regular golf earlier this year after spending the last eight years working abroad, he has packed more success into a few months than many manage in a lifetime.
He already had three aces to his name, including two as a junior at Gaudet Luce. Then, just weeks before his Great Barr heroics, he added another during the Droitwich Club Championships – a pure 6-iron from 191 yards on the par-3 15th. He went on to win the 36-hole stroke play event in a play-off.
In June, he claimed the Worcestershire County Championship at Blackwell too. “It’s been a good year really,” he said, “especially considering I didn’t really pick up a club for eight years when I was living abroad. When I moved back in February, my wife has been working away so I play most days when I can!”
That form clearly travelled with him into the scratch match at Great Barr.
ADRENALINE RUSH
The 3rd at Great Barr is a 411-yard par-4, framed by an oak tree that Vigurs used as his line. “I played a little cut off the oak tree,” he explained. “We all hit good drives and we found three of them down there. Then we were looking for mine.”
His playing partners’ drives were grouped together, but Vigurs’ was missing. He checked left of the fairway, about 50 yards short of the green, where he expected to find it. Nothing. He checked behind the green. Still nothing.
Vigurs, who started playing golf aged 11, explained: “At that point I looked a bit silly, so I thought I might as well check the hole – and there it was, nestled in the bottom. I had to take two or three looks. I couldn’t believe it. They didn’t believe me till I pulled it out of the hole and we just went mad!”
The adrenaline rush was immediate. “It was so weird – I couldn’t concentrate for the next hole!”
He went on to win his match, and Droitwich Golf Club sealed promotion by winning the league on the same day. The celebrations stretched from Great Barr back to Droitwich, in which Matt said: “It was an expensive one!”
Vigurs, who works as a product and training manager at McLaren, has kept the ball and is hoping Great Barr might help him commemorate the achievement.
“I’m trying to get in touch with Great Barr so they can give me a flag – I want to get it framed. They were talking about putting a plaque on the hole as well, which would be nice!”
With momentum behind him, Vigurs has his sights set on more silverware. “I’d like to try and win the County Match Play and do well in the English Champion of Champions event at The National Golf Centre at Woodhall Spa in September.”
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