Grange leftie aces two par-3s in 12-hole competition: 67,000,000/1 shot

James Donovan picks the ball out of the hole after his second ace of the day, this one on the 19th, at Grange Golf Club

Grange is famous for its par-threes — ask Ryder Cup skipper Paul McGinley, who learned the game there. They're trick too. In fact, the odds against an amateur having a hole-in-one are estimated at around 12,500 to 1. But two holes-in-one in the same round? Apparently, that's a 67,000,000 to 1 one chance, at best.

Take a bow Grange left-hander Jim Donovan, who aced his second and his fifth holes of the day in the club's 12-hole competition on Sunday.

The 67-year old, 17-handicapper was delighted to buy everyone a drink (x 2) having broken his hole-in-one duck in such sensational fashion.

He didn't even win the 12-hole competition over the Inner 12 — the first four holes on the old course followed by the outer six on the New Lands before concluding on the old 17th and 18th — finishing fifth with 24 points.

 But that hardly mattered after such a rare feat.

"Apart from the holes in one, I didn't play that well," chuckledJames, who has been a member at Grange for some eight years.

"I had the first hole in one on the second from just over 100 yards, hitting a wedge. It was just resting against the pin when we were walking up there, which was just over the bunker at the front."

Three holes later, he struck again.

"We were playing off the whites so I reckon the hole in one on the 19th was around 186 yards," he said of his second ace on the downhill one-shotter. "I hit a five wood and it was looking good all the way."

Jim faced another par-three just a few holes later but "only" managed a par having hit his tee shot onto the wrong level of the multi-tiered green

"I thought two were enough," he joked. "I'd never had a hole-in-one before though I'd witnessed a couple.

"It was a pleasure to be able to celebrate and buy a few drinks."

Inner 12

• 1st  Dave Furney (18)  25pts (L6)
• 2nd Stephen Howe (14) 25pts (L3)
• 3rd  Shay Downer (12) 25pts
• 4th  Mark Darmody (12) 24pts (L3)
• 5th  James Donovan (17) 24pts

Hole in One 

• James Donovan 2nd Hole
• James Donovan  19th Hole
• €52

Twos

• Niall Tuite
• Alan Cooke
• Aidan Ryan

€17.33 each

Outer 12

1st  Michael Quinn (18) 28pts

2nd WT O’Dwyer (15) 27pts (L6)

3rd  Aidan Hanley (17) 27pts (L3)

4th  Sean Flood (22) 27pts (L6) 

5th  Michael Mahony (23)  27pts

6th  Kevin Feeney (25)  26pts (L6)  

Twos

• Michael Kennedy 
• Dermot Murphy   
• Darach L Connolly  
• Matt Corcoran  
• Hugh Millar  
• John Howe  
• Edmond O'Driscoll 
• Donal Bollard  
• Sean Flood 
• Declan Goode  
• John Kennedy  
• Morgan Pierse 
• Mark Ryan 
• Conor McAlister  
• Sean O'Keeffe 

€12.62 each