Talk about a two-step in Texas.
Longhorns senior Parker Coody made two holes-in-one in the same round Monday at Forest Creek Golf Club in Round Rock, Texas, to move through his U.S. Open local qualification.
“That was insane,” Coody later told GolfChannel.com. “A couple of the rules officials chastised me about it, saying things like, ‘You have to buy your group a pair of shoes or something.'”
On a windy day north of Austin, Coody started on the 10th hole and was 1 under through his first seven holes when he arrived at the 150-yard 17th hole. Coody had 146 yards in with his second shot on the par-5 16th hole and blasted it 30 feet over the green.
“The angle was relatively similar, so I figured I’d just hit it a little softer and read the wind correctly,” Coody explained. “It lands a foot away from the hole and leaps into it. That one had piqued my interest.”
Coody then bogeyed the first par-4 hole before swapping strokes at Nos. 3 (birdie) and 5 (par) (bogey).
“It was incredibly windy, and the greens were really sluggish and gritty, and I wasn’t doing much,” Coody said. “I had just missed a 6-footer for birdie on my 16th hole, which I felt like I needed, and I walk up on 8, and I’m like, Well, I need to start making something.” I needed to finish with a birdie or two since I was 2 under, and when I checked the scores after 7, I noticed that 2 under was now in a massive playoff.
“I just hit a good 7-iron, began it a little bit out right, and let the wind just pull it in, and it vanishes before my eyes. When it happened, it was a huge shock.”
Despite finishing with a bogey, Coody’s two aces helped him to a 3-under 69 and second place behind medalist Chandler Phillips (67). Taylor Funk, a former Texas golfer, was one of three players to finish a playoff at 2 under par. Callum McNeill and Matthew Kemps joined him.
Coody was not only making his first trip to the U.S. Open sectionals, but it was also not his first time stringing together a few aces in a short amount of time. He played a 27-hole day at Lakewood Country Club in Dallas when he was in high school and made a hole-in-one on his final par-3.”
“This sounds insane,” Coody commented “But the next par-3, which I played with my brother and father the next morning on a different course, I accomplished it again.
“I thought that was incredible.”
