This is perhaps the most safe bet to make for the PGA Championship this week: No four players will achieve a hole-in-one at the same time on the East Course’s 6th hole. Oak Hill’s East Course, No. 6. It sounds silly, but this happened in the second round at the 1989 U.S. Open.
This year’s PGA Championship will not feature the exact same hole, so this feat is unlikely to be repeated.
Doug Weaver made his ace in a span of two hours on a 167-yard par 3 that morning. Mark Wiebe, Jerry Pate, and Nick Price also did the same. The hole was not exactly in a “bowl”, but it came pretty close. It had been cut into the bottom of a ditch. The four holes-in one did not fly into the cup. Instead, they landed left, right, or beyond the flag, then curled into the cups. Each player used a seven-iron.
A truly amazing event. This had never been done before on the PGA Tour or major championship golf. The tournament officials noted before the round that this was a spot where an ace would be likely, but they ended up with 4.
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Check out the yardage books for each hole on Oak Hill’s East Course
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Oak Hill East is ranked among the top 50 classic U.S. golf courses
The hole has been removed from the Donald Ross layout in Rochester, New York, following a renovation done by Andrew Green. The 1989 sixth hole was built during the 1970s course renovation by George Fazio & Tom Fazio. Green removed it and replaced it with a par 3. 5. Green’s No. Double Trouble is the name of this punishing par 4. It plays along and over a creek. On the scorecard, it is stated that this hole measures 503 yards.
It’s not like a repeat of the LIV team dubbed “Four Aces”, which is the opposite of that, was ever likely. According to the PGA of America, any Tour player can make an ace at a par 3. The odds are 3,000-1. National Hole-in-One Association estimated at the time the odds of four Tour professionals acing a hole on the same day as 8.7 million-to-one. However, the hole’s location which allows balls to enter the cup in multiple directions certainly improved these odds.
