It’s only fitting a man who makes his living beating the odds did it again, this time on the Association’s grandest stage.
Thomas Hyland of Little Mill Country Club, a professional card player by trade, recorded his second ace in as many Golf Association of Philadelphia Major Championships when his tee ball on the perilous No. 17 (par 3, 199 yards) rolled into the cup during the Amateur Championship Qualifier’s first round on Tuesday.
It was Hyland’s 12th career hole-in-one. A few weeks ago in the Association’s Middle-Amateur Championship, Hyland notched his 11th as he watched a 7-iron on the 15th (153 yards) at Chester Valley Golf Club stop at the bottom of the cup.
On Tuesday at Huntingdon Valley Country Club in a persistent and annoying rain, Hyland launched a 19-degree hybrid that landed on the front of the 17th green and ran all the way back, some 25 feet, into the hole. The hole location was plus 11.
The ace capped a fantastic stretch in which Hyland went birdie, birdie prior. At the time, the hole-in-one moved the 55 year old to 1-under for the tournament but he bogeyed No. 18 (par 4, 440 yards) and made the turn level. Hyland started his day on the back nine. It also capped a tumultuous outward series in which he registered just two pars in his first nine holes.
“You have to start making these par 3s a little tougher,” joked Hyland.
Hyland, a resident of Marlton, N.J., is the father of defending Amateur Championship Michael Hyland.
