Frank Bensel Jr. scored two consecutive hole-in-ones at the 2024 US Senior Open at Newport Country Club
According to the National Hole-in-One Registry, the odds of hole-in-one twice in a round are 67,000,000 to 1. While the odds of hole-in-one twice in a row are not available (because, why would you need odds on something that never happens), that rare event happened on Friday when Frank Bensel Jr. scored two consecutive aces at the 2024 U.S. Senior Open during his second round at Newport Country Club.
Bensel’s consecutive hole-in-ones were the first in a tournament event and the first in a United States Golf Association championship. Only Don Bliss in the 1987 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship made two holes in the same round before Bensel bounced back on Friday.
“I’ve played a lot of golf in my life, and just witnessing a hole-in-one in a tournament is pretty rare,” Bensel said. “For me, it was great. I’m here trying to play well and qualify. And, at that time, that was quite important for me. So, the first shot was great, so it got me under par for the day. And then the second shot, I couldn’t even believe it could happen.
“Hit the ball in the right spot, and then it started rolling. I was joking and said, ‘Okay, now let’s go get another one,’ and it just happened to go in. Everybody couldn’t believe it. We were all going crazy. I have a lot of family and friends here and they were all going crazy, and so were the people I played with, they couldn’t believe it.
Bensel stepped onto the green at the par-4 third and was over par for his round thanks to an early bogey. Debating with his son – who used to be his caddy – about club selection, Bensel had the final say and chose to use a 6-iron. It proved to be the right decision as Bensel hit a 6-iron that landed at the front of the turf and eventually found its way to the bottom of the cup.
The head pro at Century Country Club didn’t see his ball go in the hole, but he did shortly after on the par-3 fifth. Because, guess what? Bensel did it again. This time, from 203 yards out, Bensel hit his second hole-in-one to etch his name into the golf history books.
Consecutive aces helped Bensel reach 3 under for his round and 2 over for the championship, but that would be as good as it got. Four straight bogeys to end his first nine holes left him 1-over before adding three more pars to his scorecard on the final nine for a 4-over 74 to follow up his opening 75 of he.
Bensel may not have birdied any holes in Round 2 and may not have had any golf time this weekend at Newport Country Club, but he has a memorable story and arguably achieved one of the rarest feats in golf.
