He gets a hole in one and doesn't even see it

By John Vellante  |  July 13, 2008

It's the dream of every golfer, young and old, and Chris Kennedy of Lowell is no exception. He has dreamed of a hole-in-one for 53 years. And, after thousands of rounds of golf, a near miss or two or three times, the dream finally came true late last month. Only problem is, Kennedy never saw it. His playing partners did, the group in front of him did, but Kennedy didn't. Seems he was preoccupied picking up his tee.

"Can you imagine," he mused, "after playing for so many years, I finally get what every golfer wants, and I don't see it go in the cup. I mean, I knew I hit it good and that it was heading for the flag, but when you've been playing for 53 years, you just don't think of it happening. So after I hit it, I bent down to pick up my tee. My partners told me it went in, but I didn't believe them until I saw it in the hole. That's when I got a little excited."

Kennedy's ace came on the difficult par-3, 177-yard, 14th hole at Vesper Country Club in Tyngsborough, where he has been a member for 28 years. He used a 5-iron. Holes-in-one are rare on the 14th, because the Merrimack River flows in front of the tee and the green slopes from front to back. There's a tree to the right of the green and a bunker to the left.

"A typical Donald Ross hole," joked Kennedy, now 61, who caught the golf bug way back "when I was an 8-year-old and a caddy at Oakley Country Club in Watertown."

The closest Kennedy had come before this was "about half an inch away" at Abenaqui Country Club in Rye, N.H.

Kennedy knows just how much luck - more so than skill - is involved in a hole-in-one.

"It's a stroke of luck, that's all it is," Kennedy, who plays to a 6 handicap, said. "Even on the pro level, so much luck is involved in making one. What was most important to me that day was that I shot a 1-under 71. I was playing well, and often when you're playing well and something like that happens, the rest of the round drops off. That didn't happen to me. I was even par at that point and I stayed the course."

Until the hole-in-one, Kennedy's claim to fame were the two double eagles he had scored - one at the par-5, 480-yard 5th at Vesper and the other on the par-4, 480-yard 18th at Blue Hills Country Club in Canton. "Those," he stressed, "are more rare than holes-in-one."

Kennedy joined his daughter, Meara Kennedy-Golden of Lowell, who scored an ace several years ago, also at Vesper, in the hole-in-one club.

"She certainly didn't have to wait as long as I did," he joked.

Andover native Ryan Hanigan has been chosen to play in the International League All-Star game Wednesday in Louisville. Hanigan is a catcher for the Louisville Bats, the Triple A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. Through the first 50 games of the season, he was batting .295 with 3 home runs, 22 RBIs, and 25 runs scored. He's also thrown out 36 percent of potential base stealers. . . . Brian Wilson of Londonderry, N.H., is the ace of the San Francisco Giants bullpen, and his 24 saves earned him a spot on the National League All-Star team. . . . He's still two years away from college, but Central Catholic junior basketball phenom Carson Desrosiers is already part of the college recruiting hunt. New Hampshire and Fordham have made offers to the 6-foot, 6-inch junior, and Boston College, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Penn State, Purdue, and Providence have been knocking on his door. . . . Mark Fisher of Newton and Erin Wyner of Medford were the men's and women's 5-mile winners of the 19th annual Sons of Italy Road Race in Lawrence. Kevin Alliette and Christie Fox, both of Methuen, topped the 3.1-mile field. More than 250 runners participated. . . . Former Methuen and Dartmouth All-American Sean Furey turned in a strong performance in the US Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore. He threw the javelin 241 feet, 3 inches and finished seventh overall. He qualified for the finals with a throw of 243-4.

Sports Notebook ideas or information may be sent to JohnPVel@aol.com.