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Nearly blind shot ends with hole in one
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · July 20, 2017
Typically, when a golfer nails a hole-in-one, the scene includes a lot of fist-pumping, jumping, shouting and high-fives around the group.
Not with Trevor Thein.
Nope, he had no idea.
Instead, Thein found himself digging around in the tall grass and weeds, his stomach in knots, thinking he just blew a solid front nine in the Iowa PGA Junior Open Tournament July 13 at Airport National Golf Course in Cedar Rapids.
Maybe he hit it too hard, he feared, into the nearby cornfield.
Dig, dig, dig. He sweated the possibility of a penalty shot.
Then one member of his threesome, the 2016 Junior Open champ, J.T. Manjoine, called out …
“It’s in the cup.”
Thein, closing in on 18 years old and about to start his senior at West Branch High School, walked over to the hole. His father, Todd, snapped pictures as Trevor reached into the hole and pulled it out.
A hole in one.
An eagle, too. In fact, the only one of the tournament.
Thein made the rare shot on Hole No. 6, a par-3 105-yard drive. That’s a bit longer than a football field.
Oh yeah, one other thing -- He was shooting uphill, nearly blind -- he could not even see the hole.
Just the pin guided him.
“I was shocked,” the varsity golfer said. “I couldn’t believe what happened.”
Todd posted the pictures of his smiling son on Twitter, and sent copies to his high school coaches.
“That’s pretty cool stuff,” Head Boys Golf Coach Randy Sexton said. “Of course, I’m very pleased. He spends a lot of time on his game. It’s pretty rare and I’m very, very proud of him.”
Thein finished the front nine with a 32, shooting par. On the back nine, he shot 35 for a 67 total on 18 holes. Par was 63, so his four-over finish put him fifth overall. He even beat Manjoine by three strokes.
Tess Goudy, Iowa PGA assistant executive director and head of junior golf events, said the club hosts more than 70 events each year showcasing some of the best youth golfers in the state.
“It has happened before in our Junior events, those crazy lucky kiddos!” she said when asked about how often the group records a hole-in-one. “I would say we see about one a year, or at least every other year.”
Thein played on the Airport National course only once before, at last year’s Junior Open. In 2016, he finished tied for ninth place shooting 73.
Thein this year was put into a group with Manjoine of Muscatine and Matthew Heineman of Ventura in the 16- to 18-year-old tournament.
Shooting par up to that point, Thein chose an approach wedge, also known as a gap wedge, to get the ball up to the green.
The weather was “pretty breezy” but the wind was behind him, he said. He had the advice of one of his father’s friends to stay left of the pin, and the ball should roll back to the right. Thein called it a “slippery green.”
“I thought I hit it long,” he said, thinking the wind carried it farther than he intended. “It looked long and left. My heart sank for a minute. I had no thought that it went into the hole. I thought it went into the weeds.”
Looking back, he said the remembers feeling he hit the ball well off of the club face.
“I guess the golf gods were with me,” he said.
Sexton said he recalls only one other golfer during his time to accomplish the feat: Dan Rasmussen. He cannot remember the year, but Rasmussen shot his hole in one on the West Branch course on Hole No. 5 during a sectional meet.
The coach said Thein “trusts his swing” to make a shot like that.
“I’m very happy for him,” Sexton said. “It’s a feather in his cap.”
Sexton’s tweet of congratulations included the hashtag “thehairlooksgreat,” a good-natured poke at how Thein’s short hair never seems to get messed up, no matter the weather the Bears play in.
Thein smiled throughout his interview with the Times in the clubhouse of Cedars Edge Golf Course in West Branch.
“It still hasn’t really set in, though,” he said just hours after accomplishing the feat.
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