Worthington resident Cory Fidler hit a once-in-a-lifetime golf shot during his work league round at Mental Memorial Golf Course in Columbus on June 25, his accomplishment even rarer than a hole-in-one.
Fidler is a project manager for the Ohio Department of Transportation and an 11.2 handicap. On the third hole, a par 5, he made his miraculous second shot from about 240 yards out for an albatross.
An article from the PGA in 2021 states that the odds of a golfer finishing a single hole three strokes under par are between one-million-to-one and six-million-to-one. The odds for an average golfer to make a hole-in-one are closer to 12,500 to 1, according to the National Hole-in-One Registry.
Playing from the white tees, Fidler was 513 yards from the hole on his tee shot, which landed in the rough 243 yards from the pin. Fidler said he typically would lay up to the green with such an imperfect lie.
“My golf partner is in the cart with me [and] is kind of razzing me to go for it,” said Fidler. “So I pulled out the 3-wood. It was a little uphill stance, but hit it well. Not the best shot I’ve ever hit, but it was hit pretty well and right at the flag.”
With his partner waiting in the cart, Fidler ran up the hill to follow the ball to the green. He was skeptical when his ball suddenly vanished from sight but knew there was a chance he had made the shot of his life.
“I let everybody else hit up,” Fidler said. “And then, of course, they had to hit again. But the last thing I was going to do was go close to that hole.”
While his partner chipped up to the green from about 40 yards, Fidler had another group check the cup. Sure enough, his ball was there.
“Oh, it’s wild,” Fidler said. “It’s an unreal feeling to think that never again in my life will that happen ever again.”
After he saw the other group cheering, Fidler got plenty of high-fives and some celebratory drinks.
“I kept playing the ball for the rest of the round. [The group] thought I was crazy, they’re like, ‘You need to put that ball somewhere,'” Fidler said.
Fidler did not realize how rare his feat was until he learned that Tiger Woods, one of the greatest golfers to play the game, never recorded an albatross in his professional career. Now, he plans to memorialize the ball and keep it out of his golf bag.
Fidler ended his nine-hole round with a 38. By June 26 morning, he was a mini celebrity among the ODOT golf league, getting text messages from coworkers throughout the night. A league-wide email congratulated Fidler on the feat as well.
“Half of them were telling me that a squirrel put my ball in the hole and all kinds of grand ideas and schemes how this happened,” Fidler joked.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Worthington golfer makes rare albatross at Columbus course
Reporting by Dan Aulbach, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dan Aulbach, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
