Golf: Craig Stevens's perfect shot one in million

In 1935, Gene Sarazen, in the twilight of his career, had one at Augusta, dubbed by sportswriters as the "shot heard round the world", to force a playoff at the Masters that he would go on to win.

Now add Tauranga 40-year-old Craig Stevens to the list of albatross owners, with the self-confessed "inconsistent hacker" - non-club affiliated and without a handicap - still in a state of shock after his perfectly-struck drive on Golf Pacifica's 271m par-four 17th hole rolled up on to the green and into the hole.

Stevens, an account manager with Yellow Pages, didn't see the double-eagle ace, hitting on to an elevated fairway leading back to the clubhouse. He had given up on ever finding the dimpled white sphere after 15 fruitless minutes searching for it.

"The mate I was playing with [Warren Kibur] hadn't played the course before so I showed him where to aim and he got one away nicely up the middle, then I got hold of mine quite well although it wasn't going directly for the green.

"When we got up on to the flat in the cart Warren's ball was about where we expected but we couldn't find mine anywhere. There was next to no rough and a little 12-inch wide creek running in front of the green, and I was getting pretty pissed off because I knew I'd gotten hold of the tee shot."

With the light fading and Kibur keen to finish the round and get back to Tauranga, Stevens called off his search, dropped another ball and chipped on to the green. As he was about to pull the pin out his missing ball revealed itself.

"I looked in and was instantly in shock. I stepped back and said to Warren 'my ball's in the hole', and he said "don't give me that bull****".' With no one playing directly in front of them Stevens can't explain how his tee shot found its way into the hole.

"We obviously didn't see what happened but it must've taken a fairly decent bounce, gone left and rolled up on to the green, although there's been a few mates suggest there's probably a little dog that runs around the course putting balls into the hole."

Hole-in-one odds are in the neighbourhood of 13,000-to-one for the average golfer, but for an albatross ace those odds skyrocket to 1,000,000-to-one.

India's Rahil Gangjee on Monday became the third player in Nationwide Tour history to make a hole-in-one on a par 4, using his driver to ace the 316-yard 15th at the Mylan Classic.

Tauranga's Josh Geary, playing in the same tournament, had already achieved the feat, in 2003 as an amateur, when his tee shot at Whakatane's 295m par-four third hole rolled up on to the green at the Bay Open and plonked in the hole. Stevens' ace was the second at Katikati's Golf Pacifica that week, with Omokoroa 18-handicapper Lynly Hills hitting the perfect shot two days earlier on the 101m par three 9th.

Stevens' second phone call after ringing his girlfriend was to his parents, both long-time members of the hole-in-one fraternity.

His form leading up to his greatest day in golf had been patchy - 105 at the Lake Resort in Pauanui and 85 and 105 at Emerald Lakes on the Gold Coast. His hole-in-one helped him to an 85 at Pacifica.

"I love the game and would play every day if I could, but it's a hugely frustrating sport. Some days I hit the ball straight and other days I'm all over the place, and if the odds of an ace on a par four are so huge then I was due one because I must've had nearly a million shots on the golf course."