Pro’s gaffe dashes hole-in-one from record books

Canadian pro Aaron Cockerill was flying high on Thursday. 

On the 16th hole of this week’s DP World Tour event — the Made in Himmerland, in Denmark — Cockerill needed only one swing on the 128-yard par-3.

An ace!

Features

It was a familiar feeling for the 30-year-old given he had made another hole-in-one just a week ago at the DP World Tour event in Switzerland. (“It was awesome,“ Cockerill said of that swing. “I’ve not had a hole-in-one in a few years.”)

But then things got weird. On the ensuing hole, a par-4, Cockerill came crashing back to earth, making a quadruple-bogey 8, followed by a bogey on 18. When the dust had settled on his round, he had shot a roller-coaster 33-42—75. One ace, three birdies, three bogies, a double and a quad. 

But then things got really weird. After holing out on the closer, Cockerill headed to the scoring area, got caught up in the excitement around his second hole-in-one in seven days and … forgot to sign his scorecard. 

Here’s how Cockerill described the episode on Twitter: 

Even casual golf fans know the penance for that scoring gaffe: disqualification.

Cockerill’s round had been wiped from the DP World Tour record books, which means, in essence, the round never happened, which means, in essence — you guessed it — the ace never happened. Well, it happened in a physical sense, but it technically won’t count.

Cruel game golf is. 

No word on whether Cockerill was exempt from buying drinks in the clubhouse. 

NEWSLETTER

Alan Bastable

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s executive editor, Bastable is responsible for the editorial direction and voice of one of the game’s most respected and highly trafficked news and service sites. He wears many hats — editing, writing, ideating, developing, daydreaming of one day breaking 80 — and feels privileged to work with such an insanely talented and hardworking group of writers, editors and producers. Before grabbing the reins at GOLF.com, he was the features editor at GOLF Magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey with his wife and foursome of kids.

• Author Twitter Account