Hole-in-one double act at Masters

How handy to have a bookmaker on site to calculate the odds of two players in the same pairing holing in one, within little more than an hour of each other. The coincidence occurred in the final round of the Victor Chandler British Masters, something the sponsors reckoned was a 5,000-1 chance.

How handy to have a bookmaker on site to calculate the odds of two players in the same pairing holing in one, within little more than an hour of each other. The coincidence occurred in the final round of the Victor Chandler British Masters, something the sponsors reckoned was a 5,000-1 chance.

There are three par-threes on the front nine of the Duke's Course, with the pretty second hole the best known. It measures only 134 yards and only a wedge is required from the high tee but the green in the valley below is the most severely undulating on the course. It was here that Alastair Forsyth, the young Scot who topped the Qualifying School last year, holed out. It was his fourth ace but the first as a professional for the 24-year-old. Forsyth, who was out in 28, went on to birdie both the fifth and the 173-yard eighth hole. It was there that his playing partner, Roger Chapman, holed out with a six-iron. "Funnily enough," Chapman said, "after Alastair holed at the second, I wondered if two people in the same group had made holes-in-one."

It was Chapman's first ace in 19 years as a professional. He had four holes-in-one as an amateur, the last coming in the 1981 Open Championship at Royal St George's. Both players finished with 65s and were presented with magnums of champagne. Most tournaments offer hole-in-one prizes, but this offered the year's ownership of a racehorse, worth £35,000, for an albatross at the par-five 18th. For the second year running, the prize went unclaimed.