When it comes to talent, it seems that Shane Warne was blessed with an unfair amount having been arguably the greatest bowler cricket has ever had.
The Australian took more than 1,000 wickets during his international career, while he was also a accomplished poker player. And it turns out that he also secured a place in golfing folklore.
Of course, while Augusta National can prove to be one of the most brutal tests in golf, it also provides a couple of opportunities for the world’s best players to make some shots back during the Masters. And perhaps the best example of that comes on the 16th, particularly when they place the pin on the left-hand side of the green.
There have been a number of hole in ones to that particular flag, with the players able to take advantage of the contours to send the ball towards the hole.
How cricket’s greatest ever player secured his spot in Augusta National history
However, that is not the case when it comes to the back right pin. In fact, it appears that no-one had ever made a hole in one to that pin until 2018. The likes of Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods all missed out. Instead, it was Shane Warne who managed to make an ace.
Speaking to Sporting News before his untimely death in 2022, Warne explained how he came to create his own piece of Augusta National history.
“We played three rounds, this was the third round. I’d played the 16th two other times. One, I made a birdie to a front pin – and a lot of pros make a birdie to the front pins there. And then the second round I played at the 16th, I hit it in the water. Pulled it into the water, no good,” he said.
“The third one we played, this was the one. So I think it was a 157 or 159 yards up a slight hill into a little breeze, not much, but just a little breeze. And I hit mine quite high, so I was worried if I get a seven iron I wouldn’t get it up enough, so I needed a little bit more club and I tried a bit of a lower shot, rather than a high shot and let it sit, because the pin is the Friday pin, which is a back right pin, which has never ever had a hole in one. No-one has ever had a hole in one in the history of the club.
“After this had happened, I got a letter. They sent me a plaque, a frame of the ball and everything. They sent it all to me because they said no-one’s ever done that.
“So the pin was back right, the Friday pin, I hit a six iron. And as you hit it, you sort of say, ‘oh, I’ve hit that well’. And then the guys you’re playing with will say, ‘be good, that looks good, be as good as you look’. Suddenly, one bounce, straight in. And I’d never, ever had a hole in one. Never gone close, so it was my first ever hole in one.”
The hole in ones the 16th at Augusta National has seen during the Masters
It is a remarkable achievement, particularly as the 16th hole is the hole which has seen the most hole in ones in Masters history. In fact, there have been more hole in ones on the 16th than the rest of the course combined throughout the history of the first major of the year.
There have been 24 aces on Redbud – as the hole is officially called. Ross Somerville landed the first back in 1934, while the most prolific year was 2016, when Shane Lowry, Davis Love III and Louis Oosthuizen all made hole in ones.
- Ross Somerville (1934)
- Willie Goggin (1935)
- Ray Billows (1940)
- John Dawson (1949)
- Clive Clark (1968)
- Corey Pain (1992)
- Raymond Floyd (1996)
- Padraig Harrington (2004)
- Kirk Triplett (2004)
- Trevor Immelman (2005)
- Ian Poulter (2008)
- Nathan Green (2010)
- Ryan Moore (2010)
- Adam Scott (2012)
- Bo Van Pelt (2012)
- Shane Lowry (2016)
- Davis Love III (2016)
- Louis Oosthuizen (2016)
- Matt Kuchar (2017)
- Charley Hoffman (2018)
- Justin Thomas (2019)
- Bryson DeChambeau (2019)
- Tommy Fleetwood (2021)
- Stewart Cink (2022)
But it seems no-one could do what Warne managed.
Anyone who follows cricket knows that was often the case.
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