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The hole-in-one from Pat...
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Pat Sontag was my best friend. Sometimes I was his, sometimes I wasn't depending on what day it was. Those of you who knew Pat well knew some of his idiosyncrasies. At Pat's wake there was a bag of golf tees with Pat's name and address on them. The sign said, "Last chance to get teed off at Pat," so naturally I had to grab some and put them in my pocket. The next Thursday I played in a Par 3 tournament with 24 players. Quickly rushing to the tee after getting something out of my car, I teed up, took a swing and hit it 8 feet from the hole. Bending and picking up my tee, I noticed it was a "Pat Sontag" tee, which I hadn't intended on ever using, but after hitting it close decided to use just Pat's tees the rest of the day and took all the other ones out of my pocket. I wound up shooting 29 for that nine, which would be the low round of the day for the group. On the last nine of the day at the 7th hole, I teed up to hit a 3 wood on the 190-yard hole playing into the wind. Taking my swing, the ball started in a low trajectory to the left of the pin with a slight fade. Staring into the setting sun, I squinted to try to follow the path of the ball but lost it in the air. Focusing on a sand trap in front of the green, I waited to see a sand splash that never came. One of my group said, "I think it's close," but I wasn't so sure since it was hit hard and low, which would tend to make it roll after landing. Since the pin was up front, I figured it rolled past the pin. Riding up to the green, we could not see any balls on the green, which made me think it rolled over the green. My partner walked up and said, "It's in the hole!". Walking up there and bending over to see, yep, it was my ball in the hole. So I recorded my first and only hole-in-one the first time I played after Pat's death using a Pat Sontag tee. Also following in true Pat Sontag form, instead of winning $10,000 or a car, I won $24 in our skin game. After paying my bar tab, it only cost me $30 to get my Pat Sontag hole-in-one. Just Pat's way of saying, "I'll let you get a hole-in-one, but it's gonna cost you." My true friend to the end. The ball, tee, and scorecard are now on display in my house. Thanks again, Pat.
-- Wes Toton
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