Ben Hogan, who was arguably the greatest shotmaker of all time, apparently never made a hole in one.

I didn’t believe it the first time I heard it, and still have difficulty accepting that he didn’t, but have never been able to find evidence that he did.

If it’s true, as a recent Google search seemed to confirm, poor Ben must have been spinning in his grave recently. And I can’t even imagine the impact of Ali Gibb’s feat on all the living, breathing golfers frustrated at never being able to celebrate an ace.

Gibb, a 51-year old female who once walked away from the game for a few years, made not one, not two, but three holes in one in the same day? For those who might question the validity of such a far-out feat, it happened in the 36-hole women’s club championship at Croham Hurst Golf Club outside London.

Two of the aces came on the 135-yard fifth hole. The mind-boggling third transpired at the 175-yard, 11th. Bottom line, one of her opponents wrote down three 1s on Gibb’s scorecard in a 29-hole span.

“It was a really weird day,” said Gibb, who won the club championship with rounds of 81 and 82. “My scorecard had a nine, two eights, sixes, fives, fours, threes, twos and three ones.”

Odds on an amateur making a hole in one are 12,500 to 1. There were no odds available on three aces in one day, so a mathematician at Cambridge University in London was asked to try and figure out a number.

His conclusion? Somewhere beyond 1.9 trillion to 1.

Gibb, by the way, had authored three other aces before she walked away from the game. Her reward at Croham Hurst was three bottles of vintage champagne.

Sorry, Ben.

CHIP SHOTS

PNG ex Braden Bailey helped No. 6 seed Baylor win the inaugural Big 12 Match Play Championship over the weekend at the Golf Club at Houston Oaks. Bailey won two matches, halved two others and lost one.

Baylor prevailed in its four pool play matches against Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa State and Kansas State. The Bears then routed Kansas 5-1 for the championship, with Bailey posting the first point in a dominant 5-and-3 victory.

Overall, Baylor went 20-5-5 in its 30 matches. It was the Bears’ second consecutive tournament victory.

Bailey’s most impressive showing was coming from four down after nine holes to get a push against Texas’ Pierceson Coody in his first match. Coody had hit him with five birdies in a seven-hole stretch …

Port Neches-Groves finished third out of 18 schools in the Galveston Ball Fall Invitational at Moody Gardens that marked the Indians’ first tournament under new coach Jerry Honza. Bryce Parsley led the way for the Indians with a 74 that was good for second in medalist competition.

Other PNG scores were an 80 by Dalton Shields, an 85 by Jason Adams, an 87 by Victor Aponte and an 88 by Paul Muse. PNG, which was without top player, Timothy Feemster, posted the lowest among 5A schools. The only teams lower than the Indians were 6A Houston Memorial (304) and 6A Katy Tompkins (306) …

The team of Corey Mills, Justin Franklin, Chris Franklin and Will McCall shot 54, then won a scorecard playoff to finish first in the Groves Pecan Festival Scramble at Babe Zaharias. Also shooting 54 was the foursome of Paul Guilbeaux, Paul Muse, Charles Roccaforte and Timothy Feemster.

Closest to the pin winners were Doug LeBlanc (No. 7) and Cody Clifton (No. 12). Mike Melancon won the long drive for players over 60, while Bradley Stone took the long drive for players under 60 …

The team of Gary Fontenot, Joe Gongora, Larry Foster and ghost player Dwayne Benoit posted minus 4 to win the front nine in the Monday Senior 50 Plus Game at Zaharias. On the back, the team of Earl Richard, Russ Gloede, Roddy Richards and ghost player Benoit placed first at minus 4 …

In the Super Saturday 2 ball at Zaharias, there was a three-way tie at minus 1 on the front between teams captained by Craig Fontenot, Gary Fontenot and James Shipley. The back ended in a two-way tie between the Craig Fontenot team and the Randy Monk team. They finished minus 1 …

The Zaharias Friday 2 ball saw the team of Benny Sharpe, Ronnie LaSalle, Ron Mistrot and Calvin Landry take the front in minus 1. On the back, minus 3 won

for the foursome of Gary Fontenot, Joe Gongora, Bim Morrow and Craig Castille …

The Wednesday Dogfight was played in a best 3 ball format. On the front, the team of Bob West, Don MacNeal, Don Duplan and Paul Duplantis finished minus-9 to tie the team of Morrow, Rick Pritchett, Raymond Darbonne and a ghost player.

On the back, the Morrow team tied at minus 3 with the foursome of Ed Holley, Tom LeTourneau, Keith Marshall and Sid Ducote …

All area golfers are advised that they are welcome to participate in the morning games played daily at Zaharias. Monday and Thursday games are restricted to seniors. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday games are open to all comers.

The games start at 8 a.m. every day but Saturday, which has a 7:30 tee time. Because of an outside tournament, there will be no Friday game this week.

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Golf news should be emailed to rdwest@usa.net