LOS ANGELES - American Sheila Drummond, with her heart pounding, recorded what is believed to be the first hole-in-one by a totally blind female golfer at Mahoning Valley Country Club in Lehighton, Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Playing with her husband Keith and another couple in damp conditions on a
course she knows very well, the 53-year-old amateur aced the par-three fourth from 144 yards with a driver.
Drummond, blind since 1982 because of diabetes, heard her ball strike the flagstick before it dropped into the cup for the best moment of her golfing career.
"I hit the ball and one of my opponents said: `Oh, that's a great shot'," Drummond told Reuters in a telephone interview on Monday.
"Then she said: `It's going over (the green), no wait, it's going in the cup!' We all heard the ball hit the pin and I asked: `Are you sure it's in the hole?'
"Then we raced off in our carts over the bridge and the water toward the green before I knew I had my first hole-in-one."
Drummond, a member of the board of directors for the United States Blind Golfers Association, is convinced she is the first totally blind female player to record an ace.
"We've looked everywhere and we are pretty sure I am the first woman," she said. "However, there have been a few other blind male golfers who have achieved holes-in-one."
Drummond, who took up golf 15 years ago and plays off a handicap of 44, is coached by her husband, a supervisor at a local laminating company.
"He gets me lined up in the right direction for every shot," she explained. "When we get to the ball in the fairway, he tells me how many yards to go and I choose the club based on feel.
"But I've played Mahoning Valley hundreds of times so, on the par threes, I know what I need. Because it was wet yesterday, with lots of drizzle and rain, I used my driver because I knew the ball wouldn't run that much.
"Right away, I thought I hit it well, and then my heart was pounding."
- REUTERS
